Lizard Man: Dark Hunt
Issue # 6: Blood-Trail Part 1
Peter felt the spear as soon as it had hit his shoulder, but he refused to listen to the pain. Instead, he dug his right hand claws into the side of the nearest building and allowed adrenaline to be the great drug that it was as he slid to the sidewalk. As he slid down like a kid on the world's steepest slide, the force of him sliding down the building broke most of the handle of the spear off, leaving the tip and part of the handle still logged deep in the back of his left shoulder blade.
Cars and passers by came to a halt as they saw Peter land on the sidewalk in the morning light. Some people had looks of shock, others had looks of wonder and some just didn't care. Seeing what looked like a Superhuman running through New York City was not uncommon. Peter swore he saw the flash of a camera phone as he ran down five blocks and then into the nearest alley, but he didn't pay it much mind. He was too focused on getting as far away from this hunter who called himself Kravenoff as quickly as possible. It took another five blocks and two more alleyways until Peter's adrenaline rush wore off. When he stopped to take a minute to catch his breath, he knew something was very wrong. He was still bleeding and the wound stung worse than anything he had felt before.
Reaching at his right shoulder with his right hand, Peter could feel what was left of the spear severely penetrated in the upper back part of his left shoulder blade, stinging and shredding his flesh with the slightest twitch. What's worse was the amount of blood he was losing. No clotting or healing had begun as it usually did, not even in the slightest. His shoulder and leather jacket were soaked in wet blood and behind him was the evidence of a large bloodtrail he had left behind. It was like his healing factor had been shut down. Touching the spear as best he could with his right hand, he could feel a chemical burn on his fingertips. It seemed this spear was coated with some kind of corrosive poisonous material that was keeping the wound fresh and countering his healing factor. Peter knew his only chance was to pull it out, but as much as he tried, he couldn't get his hand around the small bit of broken handle that protruded from his back.
Feeling dizzy from the loss of blood and sick from the poison now creeping in his system , Peter fell to the ground over an old sewer grate. He could feel his body begin to chill, the feeling of nausea creeping up on him. He could see this being the end… his desire for revenge would be his end… what a surprise… but then suddenly, he felt a quick pull from his back!
With the pull came a warm rush of blood and he could feel his body begin to heal rapidly. How? He thought, Did my body naturally push the spear out?''. Peter knew this couldn't be the answer. He felt a pull behind him, not a push.
Turning around with curiosity, Peter found the culprit immediately. Sitting there like a proud puppy with the broken spear in his mouth sat a lizard, a dark green bearded dragon in fact. He was about 2 feet long, with a large head and fairly long tail, his eyes glistening a shiny black color that showed the innocents of youth. He couldn't be more than a few years old and oddly enough he seemed to be wearing a unique collar-like necklace that had a tiny square on it. "Well.. high there." said Peter to his small savior. The bearded dragon raised a paw as if to mock a wave and say high. "Can… can you understand me?" asked Peter, a hint of surprise in
his lizard voice. The green dragon spit out the spear and shook his head up and down as if to say 'yes'. Then suddenly, a familiar voice spoke from the box around the lizard's neck "Well of course he can understand you, silly! You're part lizard!.". Peter's Lizard face lit up hearing that familiar lecture-like tone. "Doc!" he said with an awkward lizard smile. "How… how did you find me?".
"Well it wasn't easy" replied Doctor Connors, "When you didn't show up at the lab, I got worried so I put your blood through an old oscorpe DNA tracking satellite program I had on hand and then I sent Dexter here with the coordinate updates with one of my minie cameras on his collar. Dexter is one of my at home projects ya see, my indulgence in Lizard Brain capacity. He was genetically manipulated at birth to be 3 times smarter than your standard Lizard.". Peter took a minute to admire the clever lizard Dexter and gave him a pat on the head, which the lizard seemed to appreciate, showing a small smile on his face. "Well he found me at the nick of time." said Peter, "I'm.. kinda hurt.".
"I was gonna say," replied Conners. " you were moving around alot for the past few hours on the satellite map and that thing that Dex pulled out of your back… are you ok?". Peter got a little bashful and said "well.. Not really I'm… kinda being hunted". Said Peter, his face away from the camera. He could hear Doctor Conors spit some liquid out in shock on the other end. "Hunted?! By who?" Hollered Conners with such worry it made Dexter shiver from the collar camera's feedback sound. "I'll explain later" replied Peter impatiently. "First things first, I need to get out of here and fast." As Peter went to get up and climb the nearest wall, the bearded dragon Dexter crawled up his arm and pulled at his coat collar. "Follow Dexter." said the voice of Conners through Dex's collar. "He can take you through a safe route in the sewers that goes directly under the lab". Dexter then disappeared into the sewer grate below. Peter wasn't sure at first if below the city was the best idea, especially if he was leading this hunter directly to Conner's lab, but then, Peter had a thought. This Kravenoff is an expert hunter, therefore, an expert tracker. If I took to the rooftops or the sewer it wouldn't matter. Kravenoff will follow, but in the sewers… There are plenty of tunnels and.. With the water.. I have a home field advantage. With his mind racing, Peter pulled up the drain like a door hatch, but just before he jumped in, he had a fun, almost sadistic idea. Dipping his finger in some of his blood on the ground, Peter scribbled one word on the brick wall above the hole to the sewer and then jumped in.
Kraven found himself surprised by the speed and resilience of his prey. 10 city blocks with as bad of a wound as he had inflicted with such deadly poison would have killed many lesser beasts in seconds. He felt pride in the glory of this hunt. Taking his time, and passing many passers by with odd glances because of his spears, Kraven found following the blood-trail just as easy as he had predicted. With this amount of blood-loss and how much poison was on that spear, he should be dead by now, thought Kraven as he leisurely followed his work. The poison he applied did just what it was meant to do: keep him bleeding. It wasn't common for him to use this poison for sport. He usually saved it for hunts on the Savage Lands in Antartica, but he had to admit, the Lizard got under his skin. As much as he loved the hunt, Pride was more important to Kraven and he hated being insulted. His whole life, he was hazed by his half-brother Dimitri, who had a way with words and voices. Dimitri would mimic their father's voice often from afar and call Kraven all kinds of names from weak to a disgrace of the family
name and beyond. Though they were never the true words of his father, these insults stuck with Kraven and made him the man he was today; Ruthless, masculine, but unfortunately prideful to an extreme fault. As great as the killing blow was on his prey, as much as he loved tracking his limping foe in the concrete jungle, he felt disappointed in himself that he did not convey good form with a clean kill. Instead he let his emotions get the best of him and taint his blade. He clenched his fist with an air of disappointment as he turned the corner of the last alleyway, where he could see from the amount of blood, would be the end of his hunt, but what he found was not what he expected.
There was a large pull of blood, yes, but nobody to speak of! Just the tip of his tainted spear and a sewer grate that had bin pride open! With a gleam of excitement in his eyes, Kraven slinked on over to the pool of blood examining the area like a lion on the hunt. He first picked up the spear, examining its handle and could see the tiniest of bite marks on it. It seems the Lizard boy called in the calvary thought Kraven, an excited smile creeping over his face. Then, he brought his head up and saw something crudely scribbled in blood on the brick above the grate opening. It simply said 'HERE' with an arrow pointing down. Kraven chuckled to himself and frantically took out some of the herbs he usually smoked through his pipe. Instead he shoved them in his mouth and chewed them voraciously. His muscles tensed and eyes became sharp. It had been a long time since he felt the full effects of his wifes herbs. He took a minute to breath and calm his mind, left his spears behind and just took out his hunting knife. Then like a kid in a candy store, he jumped feet first into the sewer with a hardy laugh.
To be concluded in Blood Trail Part 2!
Authors Note: The Story and its progression
So since I'm picking up the reins for Lizard Man again, I've made a little road map for story progression and release.
First, here in late April if you haven't noticed lol, I'm finishing up the Dark Hunt ark with Kraven. Once I'm done with this, in the month of May, I'm gonna make an epic Two parter called " A clash of Stone and Scales" Part 1 and Part 2, to finish up the Tombstone Rivalry. To get my readers excited, note, I have taken your suggestions of suit and Lizard companion, hence the introduction of Dexter, into consideration and plan to implement both of them in the coming stories.
Once the two parter is done, I think I'm gonna go through and clean up my old manuscripts for Lizard Man and re-upload them fresh so the writing styles don't seem so different. I don't plan on changing aspects of the already Established Lore and story, just grammatically cleaning it up to make it flow better. Once that's done, hopefully by Mid June, I can continue the story where I left off after the Stone and Scales bit.
I feel many of you have been anxiously awaiting far too long for a continuation, and I'm glad to deliver. If anyone has read the new bio, I had some trouble with self worth and other personal struggles, hence the major delays. Always put your personal health first folks, cause then you can get back to doing what you love. Anyway, it's good to be back and things are
about to flip Peter's world even more upside down and if you think it's personal now, you ain't seen nothing yet…