The Animal

He was running, his legs burning in exhaustion. He couldn't even fight this thing, it was too strong, too fast and any damage he would do was going to be nullified when the bloody thing regenerated.

His mind was working overtime as he carefully, gracefully ran, calculating each step while avoiding rubble and parts of the humans who were unfortunate enough to be here before him.

He could feel his racing heartbeat pounding against his bruised right arm after blocking one of its hits, he was nursing it against his chest.

He was going to die, this was an indisputable fact. The monster chasing after him would not allow him to live if he was caught.

He shivered as he heard its roar, "o-oh shit,shitshit" Kieran almost whimpered, his voice nearly failing him as he continued running.

And as he was turning a corner his eyes caught onto a pair of shoes laid underneath rubble, red shoes, red shoes with multiple holes in, red shoes he remembered.

—-

10 minutes earlier

'I need to live somewhere, it doesn't matter where as long as it's cheap and has decent shelter. I wish I could still use that abandoned warehouse' he shook his head expelling all thoughts about that warehouse ignoring the images of blood and gore it brought up.

Stepping around a puddle awkwardly before smiling at a random passer-by ignoring the odd look she gave him.

'If I can just find something, just anything at this point, if I'm being honest I'm just looking for something to just sleep in while I get money' he thought to himself before continuing his lookout thinking back to those 2 glorious days in the hotel.

He shook his head thinking about the bed 'possibly the most comfortable thing I've ever laid in' his track of thought was extinguished as he started to hear crashes and screams.

His mind conflicted he decides to head to the sounds anyway, after all he has superpowers 'it should all be good' he reasoned to himself.

As he was jogging in the direction of the screams he started to see cars speeding the opposite way of him with people recklessly running across roads and risking their own lives just to get away.

He winced at the sound of the cars honking, hurting his ears. He still isn't used to his sharper hearing, he sometimes has to take a breather or two when it becomes too much at times. Abandoning that line of thought when he heard another bang seeing a car crashed into a wall of a little shop.

He ran across the road quickly after apologising to the cars he cut off and he got to the cars door and then looked inside from the open window.

"You good mate?" Kieran said awkwardly to the guy in the crashed car, after Kieran didn't get a response from the bloke he went round to the drivers side forcing the door open before helping the guy out his car, the surrounding sounds of chaos only getting louder.

Kieran helped the man out of the car, sitting him down near the curb deciding to call an ambulance for him. 'He looks pretty out of it right now, he might have hit his head better safe than sorry' and as he was pulling out his honestly terrible but cheap brick phone he bought yesterday the screams around him turned from panic to pure fear.

Turning to see what changed in the people he saw half a car just land on a person that was running killing them instantly. He put his phone back before thinking if he should start running as well, before he got to doing just that the other half of the car hit the ground a few feet in front of him causing him to step back. Wincing again from how loud it was he turned his head in the direction it came.

All noise ceased to exist except ringing, his vision focused on a giant figure he could see through the dust, he could see the silhouette throwing cars and punching buildings turning them to rubble, he could see the figure grabbing humans before hurling them, seeing the bodies almost disappear in a blur they were going so fast.

He took a couple steps forward seeing the things blazing green eyes glowing from hundreds of metres away the screaming was increasing around them. The beast stood still meeting the Avatar's eyes, both of them locked in challenge before it released a horrid stomach dropping roar starting to sprint in his direction.

As it got closer, clearing the space between them in no time at all, Kieran was shocked to see its skin, it was bright green.

The Hulk, Kieran has no chance that's not over or under estimating anyone here. That's just a fact, there is no chance in hell that Kieran at his current ability could fight this thing.

The Hulk and him seemed to meet eyes once again both facing one another not dropping each other's gaze, one's gaze full of anger and the others fearful as if staring at the embodiment of death.

The hulk had a prominent brow ridge, hiding its tiny eyes in shadow still however able to see the viridescent irises burning. Its giant mouth forcing itself into a mockery of a grin, the tiny crop of black greasy hair on the top of its head blowing in the wind.

Standing at 9 feet tall its body was muscled incredibly so, it's fists as big as Kieran's own torso and before Kieran could even finish building his own mental image of The Hulk, it moved.

Crossing the distance between them insanely fast, Kieran had barely any time to put his arm in front of his own face before he was sent flying into a nearby car with a shout releasing from his throat.

Kieran stood stumbling and just ran there was no fighting that, no way in hell was he able to fight it. He used all of his strength in that guard and it was destroyed instantly. He's dodged bullets with ease before and he could barely move before the hulks fist had sent him flying.

He was hoping to god the thing wasn't anywhere near him anymore, his hearing still ringing he turned his head seeing it chasing him. He turned back with widened eyes before pushing himself to run faster.

And as he was running he heard the sound of an child crying and screaming, his stomach dropped at the sound but before he turned in the direction he realised it would be better to just ignore, if he heads to the kid the hulk will follow and that will make the kids death inevitable he feels bad but it's better this way.

As he dashed out of an alley he made sure to keep the hulk's attention leading it away from the young child. He was pushing people he came across into side streets making sure they avoided the Hulks attention.

He was keeping to the already destroyed part of the city making sure to try to avoid groups of people, he didn't know what to do, how would he even escape this thing. He's not much faster when running that's for sure so it's easy to keep a lead on the thing but not easy to get out of its view.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath doing his best to calm himself before starting to run efficiently, taking longer strides making sure to not trip on rubble and slowly but surely gaining a lead on The Hulk.

—-

And as he turned a corner his eyes caught onto a pair of shoes laid underneath rubble, red shoes, red shoes with multiple holes in, red shoes he remembered.

"Thanks man! You knocking out that dude was super awesome by the way" the kid's voice echoed in his head as he stumbled over to the rubble and with his arms shaking as he lifted.

"Also super cool jacket man, I'll get one like it too!" The kid's words ran through his head again as he noticed a transparent bag containing a cheap leather jacket lying next to the body.

His face crushed, his left arm mangled beyond recognition, his right arm completely missing and one of his knees facing the wrong way, his hair and shoes the only thing he recognised.

Kieran almost threw up right there as he turned away with a gag, he slowly turned back facing the body.

But it was the kid, that was a fact, he just knew he could just tell, his hair blood stained but still the same brown and the shoes even more damaged but the exact same ones he was wearing.

Kieran stumbled back with shock clear on his face, anguish soon following before hearing the footsteps of the beast causing all his thoughts to race as he turned his head facing the 9 foot tall animal.

He thought about The Kid, just a kid who seemed happy and looked a little lonely but happy nonetheless. Will his parents have to find his body, identify it? Could they even identify it?

He thought about his own parents, no one ever deserves that fate to have to identify their own child, nor does anyone deserve the fate of being crushed by that thing.

The anguish turned to rage, his eyebrows furrowed, his jaw clenched as he met eyes with the thing, his own eyes burning. He could feel his blood pumping, his heart rate soaring and his mind sharpening.

He ran towards the hulk barely dodging the first strike before punching it in the neck, the hulk barely reacted grabbing Kieran's already bruising arm before throwing him against a car.

He bounced off, falling onto all fours looking onto the road. He barely held in a sob at the pain in his right arm, his eyes burning tears running down his face.

He looked down to the tarmac of the road seeing the blood of civilians mix with the rain from earlier this morning, seeing his reflection in the liquid, seeing the pathetic look on his own face upon realising he can't do anything to the thing, he's powerless.

His mind went to The Kid, will he end up the same? Dead on the streets under rubble, barely human anymore, left to rot as this animal kills more and more.

It's an animal, the same way a chimpanzee is an animal, the same way a bonobo is an animal. They may have similarities to humans but in the end they are just animals.

A beast with lacklustre intelligence lacking empathy and compassion, a wild animal that needs to be put down.

In the blood and water spilt on the streets something started to build.

As these apparitions built themselves they were revealed to be 2 tigers glowing an acidic green.

These tigers were animals, however these were regal, loyal and compassionate. He could tell they would give their lives to save him, these are animals that he could embrace.

Kieran didn't even blink this, this felt right. The huge tigers, once fully formed, ran with speed that Kieran could barely even match dodging around the hulks' fast swipes and swings.

He followed behind them using the hulks distraction as an opening, using all of strength and speed almost blurring his foot creating a small crater for every step he took, the air resistance almost tearing the skin from his face before he put all of that momentum into a punch to the Hulks jaw, the punch creating a bang before the hulk's head snapped back.

Kieran dodged under another swing from the hulk while the tigers tore at his legs and stomach, his body putting itself back together as fast as it was torn, leaving a stalemate of it constantly healing before being injured once again.

Constantly back and forth they were outmanoeuvring the hulk but he just kept fighting, his stamina seemed infinite and he just kept getting faster and each blow he landed on the tigers kept them down just that moment longer.

They were tiring, this fight was ending soon that was true but in whose favour is still unknown, the hulk just couldn't decide who to hit he would constantly switch making him unpredictable, the tigers were able to take a hit or two but for Kieran a hit would leave him open and that was a chance he couldn't take.

So as he dived and stumbled out of the way of hits his anger was fresh in his mind but slowly dying to reason and logic he kept fighting now thinking about escape. Ignoring the sounds of helicopters and vehicles until he couldn't ignore it anymore as he heard a huge explosion.

He jumped back away from the Hulk, his shoes creating a splash. He looked up seeing the hulk roar into the sky as he turned around revealing a burn mark on his back quickly healing before jumping onto the helicopter that fired it, so as Kieran stumbled backwards looking for his tiger summons he realised they were also caught in the blast now gone.

Kieran quickly decided now was his time to go, after looking around him seeing about 30 Military cars all filled to the brim with armed men surrounding him . He started to run slowly at first but quickly sped up as he looked back he saw the glinting green blood of the hulk on the floor.

He entered an alley almost tripping on a dead woman's body. He shook his head ignoring the body as he was leaving the alley.

He flinched hearing another explosion undoubtedly the hulks work before coming to a realisation that the military is of course here for the hulk and that the hulk's blood would be simply too dangerous to let get into their hands.

'If the military get the hulk's blood they will just recreate it' he can't allow that to happen, giving the military super soldiers all on the level of the hulk is a disaster waiting to happen.

'Shit how can I just eviscerate the stuff, I can't just pull out a mop, it needs to be set on fire or something' Kieran thought to himself before raising his eyebrows 'that could work' he thought hesitantly.

He ran back out into the open before running into the crowd of armed men grabbing a grenade from one's belt before they could react 'now I don't know how these work but I've seen enough movies to guess' he pulled the pin placing the grenade on the blood before dashing back into the alley and running through the streets getting as much distance between him and the military as possible.

Still hearing dozens of explosions and hundreds of rounds of guns go off he couldn't tell if the grenade went off but he prayed it did.

'Let's hope that worked' he continued running, ending up in a random part of Manhattan and almost collapsing from the sheer exhaustion, he got back up deciding he needed to find decent shelter before sleeping.

He slowly walked almost limping down the streets for at least an hour before finding a rough looking apartment building 'there are definitely others in here but it will have to do' he thought to himself as he looked at the cracked windows and jarred doors.

He slowly climbed up to a second storey window before climbing into the window his arm screaming still bruised from his wrist to his shoulder.

He made sure it was empty before blocking the door, his own body falling asleep almost instantly, subconsciously summoning two green tigers to guard him while vulnerable.