THE HUNTER

Part I

By Tobias Christopher

Deep in outer space, on a barren asteroid, a stone statue lay dormant for many years, having been trapped there by a Green Lantern. The asteroid floated in silence, nothing disturbing the asteroid except for small pieces of space debris. After a very long travel through space, the asteroid finally came within orbit of Mars, where the asteroid crashed, sending the statue into the dusty dunes of the red planet. Much more time passed before the stone statue started to crumble, the inhabitant trapped inside feeling the sand blowing into the cracks.

By the time the statue had finally crumbled, there was no one inside. Not too far away, however, a humanoid form started rising out of the sand, remembering who had put him in his prison. Now there was only one thing on his mind.

“Revenge…”

Earth
Present Day

Kyle Rayner yawned as he opened his eyes, finding his surrogate brother Terry resting his head on Kyle’s chest. The two had fallen asleep while marathoning ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix the night before. Kyle desperately had to use the bathroom, but Terry looked so peaceful laying there, and Kyle didn’t want to wake him. The poor kid was still trying to get over a recent break-up with his boyfriend, police officer Marvin White.

“What time is it?” Terry asked in a tired voice as he opened his eyes.

“After nine,” Kyle told him as Terry raised his head off Kyle’s chest. Kyle took the opportunity to race to the bathroom.

“After nine? Damn!” Terry said as he jumped up and looked for his shoes. “I gotta go, I’m going to be late.”

“Late? For what? I thought you had the day off,” Kyle said as he came out of the bathroom. “I thought we could hang out. Alexandra’s doing some charity thing, so I figured we could– Are you seeing someone already?”

“No, nonononono,” Terry said as he looked under the couch, finding his left shoe. “I’m doing a follow-up story to a piece that was written last week.”

“Follow-up piece? I thought you were just a photographer,” Kyle said. “And you’re nervous, you do that when you don’t want me to know something’s up. Spill it, Berg.”

“I’m not hiding anything, I swear,” Terry said as he saw Kyle hold up his right shoe, holding it over the garbage disposal. “That’s suede, you wouldn’t dare!”

“You’re right,” Kyle said as he saw G’Nort sitting on the counter. “G’Nort’s favorite, right? Talk, or my dog has his way with your blue suede shoe.”

“I’m going to see Todd Rice!” Terry blurted out.

“Todd Rice? As in the douche canoe who tried to kill my mom and everyone else in the city?” Kyle asked with a laugh before his face turned deadly serious. “What the fuck, Terry!?”

“I knew you wouldn’t understand,” Terry told him as he grabbed his shoe out of Kyle’s hand. “You didn’t see him in that psyche ward. He’s not a monster, Kyle, he’s feeling an insane amount of guilt over what he did.”

“So, what, we’re just supposed to forgive him?” Kyle asked. “He’s dangerous.”

“No, he isn’t,” Terry said. “Not anymore. He just needs a friend.”

“Okay, you’ve been watching WAY too much of that magical friendship cartoon with the horses,” Kyle told him. “Todd Rice is a monster, Terry, and I’m not going to let him hurt you.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have a say so in this,” Terry said as he pushed his shoe on. “You’re not my dad.”

“No, I’m your brother, and that should give me some level of authority,” Kyle told him.

“I’m 18, I’m a legal adult, I can make my own choices, Kyle. I love you, but fucking stay out of my life for once!” Terry said as he walked out the door and slammed the door behind him.

South America

Something had crashed in the rainforest, creating a crater that was a good twelve feet deep into the ground. The animals seemed unfazed as they went about their daily business, not caring that a mound of dirt was rapidly rising up, taking a humanoid form.

“It’s on this planet, I can feel its energy,”

The humanoid dirt form flashed as it touched a tree, turning into wood instantly.

“There is much on this planet that can be of use to me.”

“You have to get back together with Terry,” Kyle said as he jogged alongside Marvin while in the park. “You have no idea of the insane things he’s doing without you.”

“I told him, I’m… seeing someone else,” Marvin said, averting his gaze.

“Bull. Shit,” Kyle said. “You two were inseparable. Hell, you even asked me to help you find an apartment for the two of you to surprise him with. You are not dating anyone else.”

“Stay out of our love lives, Kyle,” Marvin said as he ran faster. “Terry and I are done, let’s just leave it at that. Besides, shouldn’t you be focused on your own relationship?”

“I juggle many balls,” Kyle said as Marvin looked at him. “Get your mind out of the gutter. At least talk to him.”

“Leave it alone, Rayner!” Marvin said as he finally outran Kyle, who was panting at this point.

“A superhero with a magic ring and I can’t outrun a 150 lb. ginger,” Kyle said to himself as he fell back onto a bench.

The alien looked at its hands after touching a diamond. The crystal spread all over its body, causing a scraping sound as it walked.

“I am ready.”

“Can you believe Kyle forbid me to come here?” Terry asked as he sat across from Todd in the ward’s rec room. Todd was just staring out of the window in a daze. “You okay, Todd?”

“He’s right,” Todd said in a dull voice. “You shouldn’t keep coming here, Terry. I don’t deserve visitors. I deserve to die in this place.”

“That’s not true, Todd,” Terry said as he leaned forward. “You did something horrible, yeah, but you know what you did was wrong. I mean, you could probably use your powers at any point to break out of this place, but you haven’t.”

“No, I can’t,” Todd said. “I’m so drugged up 24/7 that I can barely remember my own name sometimes. I’m dangerous, don’t you get it?”

“Maybe I can talk to your doctor, maybe see about–”

“No,” Todd said as he continued staring out the window. “Forget about me, Te—Ted?”

“They really have you doped up real good,” Terry said. “Todd?”

“Who are you?” Todd asked as he looked at Terry.

“Kyle, just leave him be,” Maura said as she fixed Kyle a home cooked meal at her house. “Terry’s allowed to make his own mistakes.”

“But this guy tried to kill you,” Kyle told her. “How can he even look at this guy?”

“It’s called forgiveness, dear,” Maura said as she kissed the top of his head. “If I can forgive this boy, then perhaps—”

“You WHAT!?” Kyle asked, spitting out his drink.

“I forgave him, Kyle,” Maura smiled. “It took a lot of thinking and praying, but the boy had a rough life, and he is genuinely sorry for what he’s done, according to Terry. Life is too short to hold grudges, Kyle. Otherwise, I’d still have that dartboard with your father’s picture hanging in the living room.”

“Not too many people use a dartboard for hatchet throwing,” Kyle remembered. “So you’re saying I should forgive him, too?”

“I’m saying that you shouldn’t be too quick to judge,” Maura told him. “Remember when you and Terry were little and that spider crawled up your pant leg?”

“Terry got scared and grabbed the sledgehammer,” Kyle shuddered. “I’m lucky my genitals eventually descended  again. Kid had a strong arm, I’ll give him that.”

“And you forgave him after some time,”

“Yeah, I did,” Kyle said.

“Eat before your food gets cold,” Maura ordered as she mussed his hair.

The alien arrived in California, getting closer to what it was searching for. Walking out into the middle of traffic, cars screeched to a halt as the alien pushed them out of the way with ease.

“It is close,” the alien said in its metal form. It was seven feet tall zero facial features outside of glowing red eyes. “Soon, I will have my revenge.”

“Come on, Terry, pick up,” Kyle said as he got the voice mail again while walking home. “Kid, I know you’re pissed, but we need to talk… I’m sorry, you were right. I was an asshole and I need to let you make your own decisions. Call me back so we can talk.”

As he passed by the electronics store window, Kyle saw the news reports on the strange alien that was Downtown, causing a panic.

“Figures, and on my day off, too,” Kyle said as he looked at his ring. He ducked into an alley and made sure no one was around as he spun around, with a green light flashing. When he stopped, he was in his Green Lantern costume, but he was also dizzy. “It looked so easy on TV.”

“Come out and face me, Green Lantern!” the alien shouted as it held a car over its head. “I will rip this planet apart if need be!”

A giant toy machine claw plucked the car out of the alien’s hand and gently put it down.

“Okay, Skippy, no need to tear the place apart, here I am,” Green Lantern said as he hovered in the air. “I’m kind of on a tight schedule, can we move this along? I have someone to grovel to for forgiveness, so let’s just—”

The alien jumped into the air and punched Green Lantern through the wall of an office building.

“You are not the Green Lantern I am after,” the alien said. “But I will collect your head, anyway before I search for my true prey. You now face the unstoppable might of THE HUNTER!”

“Ooh, all capitals, he means business,” Green Lantern said in a daze as the Hunter jumped toward him in a pure diamond form.

TO BE CONTINUED…