Maximum Carnage Issue 10 - "The Alt-World, part 2" by Justin Anderson Friday, February 23rd. Time unknown 'Journal Entry, Feb. 23- Additional. Recently, after being given a few new weapons by the US Army, Carnage revealed himself again, this time, with the book of Evil. He used it to open a door way to the Alt-World, an evil mirror image of Earth. Our only choice now is to explore this place and try to find Carnage before he can enter Earth again. We have been cut off from supplies, and must rely on the few weapons we have on us. And we have no idea what's here or how powerful it is. End of entry. - Jack' They had been walking. They didn't know how long, exactly. Ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Neither had a watch. And it looked as if time had no meaning here. This was a twisted image of our world. Sub-Nizzuran, as the ancients called it. Otherwise known to the world as the Alt-World. They walked down the faintly familiar roads, only familiar by location and basic shape. But this wasn't New York. It wasn't exactly real. This realm shaped itself based on the heart and desires of the first intelligent life form to enter an opened vortex. And Carnage had been the first to enter. Jack looked in one of the windows. A restaurant, it seemed. He could see a few people inside. Assuming they were human. Jack decided against a conversation with any of them. Cletus had looked up at one of the street signs on the corner. The writing was unfamiliar. Gibberish, maybe. Possibly an old language. They continued on. The sights were nightmarish. Trees with beating hearts, people wearing blood-stained clothing, the shops selling the most bizarre and frightening goods. Cletus recognized this place, all too well. He had hallucinated this place. Carnage called it "the real world.....the world underneath". And now it was real. Continuing on, Jack stopped as he noticed something wrong. Where the street should continue, the city stopped, turning into grass and trees leading into a series of small hills. "It's not an exact mirror, after all. Jack, we should check it out. At the least, we may be able to get high enough to view the entire city" "Well, it beats hanging around Holocaust central. Let's do it" Leaving the cracked pavement behind, they stepped out into the grass. It cracked under them. It was dead and dry. The trees didn't look any better. Jack bent down and brushed some of the crumbled material off his shoes. He knew it was a waste of time, but he did it anyway. Walking into the thick forest, the shadows made walking harder. The ground was uneven at best, and it was hard to see. As they walked onward, a small growl could be heard. The two men looked around, but saw nothing. They heard it again, louder this time. And again, even louder. Jack could see something in the shadows. It was a small animal. Before Jack could pull his shotgun from his new belt, the thing charged them. It ran fast for something so low to the ground. And it screamed out as it ran. It sounded like a pig and a bear screaming out in a high-pitched whine. Both men ran as fast as they could, trying not to trip as they ran. "JACK.....WHAT THE HELL....." "JUST RUN, CLETUUUUUUS!" Reaching an opening, and seeing they were a good distance from it, Jack pulled his shotgun out. As it entered the clearing, he fired. It let out a small yelp as it died. Jack looked down at it. It was about a meter long, red skin and a long tail. It's claws and teeth were a dull white, stained and chipped. The front teeth were large, enough to work with the length of the jaws do do some real damage if it bit something. It's tail was tipped by a long spike. Jack also noticed something odd about this thing. It had no eyes. "Jack....what do you think it is?" Before he could answer, a fresh voice cut in. "It's a Krylakk!" Both men turned around to see who had answered. It was an old man, late seventies, dressed in old rags. He must have been a part of this twisted world. Cletus walked over to him. "A WHAT?" "I said it's a Krylakk. It's a lizard. Alligators and other lizards of your world evolved from them things! It's a piece of history, right there, yes sir!" Jack had reached into his coat for another shell to replace the one he had just fired. Cletus continued to listen. "Yes sir, those Krylakk's are mean. They'll eat everything.... skin, hair, meat, bones....all of it. Digest it all, too. No excrements. They were created from the blood spilled in violent wars that had been cursed and given new life. But you have to watch out form them Screelaks too" Cletus had stepped closer. The old man was clearly blind. "Screelak? What's it look like?" "Oh. like this...." The old man stepped back as his clothes and skin began to split. As it tore away, his form grew. When it was completed, he had grown considerably in size to a height of seven feet. This creature was a dark brownish-red, bony protrusions and small spikes covering its body. The head had two horns, both broken off near the base. It had large yellow eyes, and was bent over. It had no visible mouth. "Uhh....Jack...." It opened it's mouth. It was hidden by the fleshy material around the mouth, but once opened, it was big enough to swallow a man's head. It was lined with long, sharp teeth. Jack had just looked up from his task to see this thing. "Cletus....on my signal...." Jack pumped the slide and raised his weapon. "DOWN!" Cletus dropped to the ground as Jack fired, hitting the creature in the face. He fired again, hitting the creature in the chest. It fell backwards. Stepping closer, he pulled out a pistol and fired a few bullets to make sure it was dead. Deep inside a large hollowed out room, a being watched these events in a vision projected from the wall. "So....the heroes made their way in...." The being turned away from the wall. It floated over to a large throne in near the back wall. On the throne sat a large red blob. A face stuck out from the top. "What's the matter, Domey? Didn't think things through? Probably not. I mean, thanks to you not taking over earlier, those two were only able to KICK MY ASS!" The Carnage symbiote sat in a small pile in the seat. He had been yelling at the Dark God himself....Domientius. "It doesn't matter. Soon we will have my new body constructed. Then it will only be a matter of time until the gate opens, and I pass through. Then the world will die. I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON THEM ALL!" The symbiote stretched out into a humanoid shape, though thin, and stood. "Domey, Domey.... yeah, I know you're upset about the whole body rejection thing. I mean, who knew a simple synthetic drug could affect demonic possession so bad? What steams me is the fact old Cletey-weety went good on us! And what do I get out of it? A stressed-out ghost for a host! This whole ordeal sounds like something out of a poorly written movie" Domientius floated around the room. "No matter. These....setbacks have proven insufficient in halting my plans. If anything, they served to further it! Who knew human life forms could be so helpful? Aside from when you force them into slavery. Soon, though..... all will follow me. Not their precious God..... the first to betray me. Cruel....." "Here we go again, more of your 'oh-so-quaint' BITCHING!" ".....the first life form to exist. The first living cell in the creation of this planet's life....the first MIND! And I had my life taken within seconds of my birth. Ever since, I have strived to gain what I had lost. Life..... POWER! and most importantly, the destruction of those who betrayed me....sold me out..." "Listen. I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't care. I'm a symbiote from another planet. I like blood. I don't like insane rambling.....unless it's my own, of course" "Now you listen here...." "NO! YOU LISTEN! Remember, you need me for now. And until you can drop me, I'd suggest you do as I say! Otherwise...." It pointed a tendril at the lava pools. "....I may just go for a swim. And then you're stuck here" Their conversation was interrupted when a lone Screelak walked up the stone stairs to the throne. "Sir Domientius. The humans taken from Earth have had their organic materials stripped and separated. We are ready to finish the body" Domientius flew into the symbiote. Carnage inflated to a full humanoid form. "Excellent! Begin immediately. I want it finished within two days!" Jack walked over to the edge of the hill. He expected to see more dirt below, but instead, saw nothing at all. The edge of this hill was literally the edge of the world. he looked to both sides to see this edge continue on. "Hey, Cletus. This world is flat! And I think it's limited in size" Cletus had been thinking the same thing. How big was this world? It had clearly taken the form of part of Manhattan, but it wasn't all in order. Things were too cramped. This world probably wasn't meant to be a permanent world. He stood from the rock he had been sitting on. Brushing off his jeans and brown t-shirt, he started walking to another nearby edge. He could see something over the side. At first, it looked like a rock formation. But it soon became recognizable. "Jack....get over here...." He pointed downward. Jack saw it too. It was a skull, attached to a partial body. Areas were covered with muscle and skin. "Jack..... it's Domientius.....they're building his body!" THE END Notes: Basically set in the Marvel Universe, I will be using a lot of my own continuity for this series, and generally focus on the main characters. Appearances by Marvel's universe will be special occurences. Crossovers with characters/titles from other companies will be treated as "single universe", not as "2 universes crossing temporarily". I will also try to ignore major Marvel comic story arcs. Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and other Marvel characters are copyright Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. Other characters are either my creation(copyright myself), or copyright their specific owners if non- Marvel licensed characters. Characters used without permission/not for profit. These are strictly fan stories. Permission to reprint extends to placing this text, unaltered, elsewhere online. It may not be altered, and especially NOT TO BE SOLD, unless Marvel wishes to license this series from me.