[Vfw-times] story:Critter-Man (3/?) for real this time

[Oren Otter]

Part Three

	Simon Gerfallen lay on the floor of his lab, his clothes drenched in his
own blood.  The syringe with which Renny stabbed him had pierced his heart.
 He knew he should be dead.  Perhaps he was.  Through dry, dusty eyes, he
watched Renny leave.  He hears him gloat darkly over the murder.  That was
when his blood began to boil.  Literally.  He could feel it.  Simon rose to
his feet, thinking only of vengeance.  That is, until something caught his
eye.  A monster stood before Simon, staring at him with enormous bloodshot
eyes.  It's nostrils, set flush into its shaggy-furred face, flared as its
lips curled back to reveal two rows of razor sharp teeth.  Its arms and
legs were impossibly thin and long, their skin glistening like black
polished leather.  Each one ended in three wicked fingerlike claws.  The
clothing it wore, apart from the trousers down around its ankles, were a
torn and bloodstained shirt and labcoat which hung across it's gaunt,
shaggy frame like a bloody toga.
	Simon was staring into a mirror.  On the verge of sobbing at the horror,
Simon pulls the syringe from his chest.  Some detached part of his brain
realizes that the murder weapon was the syringe full of the alien serum.
Renny had unknowingly injected it into his heart.  The injection had killed
him, then caused him to come back to life in this warped, half-alien body.
	There was the sound of a car starting.  All thoughts of his own misery or
of science melted away as one thought flooded through Simon's mind.  Renny
must not be allowed to escape.

	Dr. Rennymede Townsend had gone completely around the bend.  As he sat and
let his car warm up, he thought to himself "To bad I had to kill him.  The
little jerk had potential."  Calmly, he lit a cigarette.
	'PEEKABOO!"
	Renny froze in terror when the spider-like creature with the huge,
penetrating eyes landed on the hood of his car, but only for a moment.  In
terror, he floored the accelerator.  The car lurched forward at an
incredible speed before wrapping its front end around a tree.  The monster
went flying and collapsed in a crumpled heap.
	Nursing a horribly injured shoulder, Renny climbed out of the car to make
sure that the creature was dead.  It seemed to be, but there was movement.
The monster's arm, twisted and broken, set and knitted it's bones.  Broken
ribs arched back into place.  Torn skin sealed seamlessly.  With an awful,
toothy smile, the creature propped itself up and sang "Hi Renny!"
	Rennymede ran.
	Simon smiled at the thought of the carnage which would soon ensue.  This
promised to be fun.



-Oren the Otter
8=-3
tlhaQ biQ Ha'DIbaH
The Changing Workplace: http://www.geocities.com/duster_skunk/strips.htm