Rick Jones had to look behind him before he opened the motel room door.

The room was dark and dead silent. Curtains were closed, windows were sealed shut and not a single water drop could be heard from the bathroom. Both Rick and the doctor didn’t want to awaken the beast, a job that was getting harder to do in a crammed motel room like this.

Rick placed the groceries he bought on the table, breathing a sigh of relief as he removed his cap. Getting to buy basic supplies was becoming more and more of a hassle especially with the military state of emergency on the Doc. And what about the Doc? The Hulk himself? Doc was lying down on the bed in the corner with his face away from the curtain as if a single beam of light would set off a nuclear bomb.

“Who’s there?” Doc said, getting up.

“It’s me, Rick,” Rick said. “Got some supplies. Instant noodles, canned food, toothbrushes…”

“Oh,” Doc said. “Thanks,”

“Shouldn’t you eat up?” Rick asked, taking out a can of beans and prying it open with the rusted can opener they bought a few towns ago. “We have a long journey ahead of us.”

Doc got up. Ever since the transformation at the town he was starting to get skinny. The clothes they bought to stay undercover started to droop over his shoulders.

“You’re right,” Doc said. His hair was a mess and his clothes had wrinkles all over them. “I should eat.”

They ate in silence, the only sound being them chewing their food. Even then, Rick made sure he chewed on his food softly.

“I’ve been wondering Doc,” Rick said.

“Hmm,” Doc said, looking up at him.

“Well, if you don’t mind me asking,” Rick said. “How do you know so much about… you know?”

“What?”

“You know,” Rick said. “Our big green elephant in the room.”

At that, Doc stopped eating.

“Like I said if you don’t mind me asking,” Rick said. “If you don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, I’m fine,” Doc said. “It’s just common sense. I remember what set me off when I transformed the first time around and figured it out from there.”

Rick nodded. “I see, I see. It’s just… I don’t know. You and the big guy, it’s almost like you… know each other.”

The Doc stopped chewing. He seemed like he wanted to say something more when he heard someone knocking on the door. Doc started covering his ears. Rick started to get irritated.

“We don’t need any room service,” Rick shouted. “Get the fuck outta here.”

“I’m sorry sir,” said a formal voice. “But we’re on the hunt for a fugitive by the name of Bruce Banner. We have information he might be residing in this here motel.” 

Rick and the Doc looked at each other, panic overtaking their eyes as they tried to figure out who found out their location.

…

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Timmy who liked superheroes.

He would read the comic books and watch the cartoons on TV. There would be an evil villain or an ugly monster and the superhero would defeat them and send the villains to where they belonged.

Not to mention he saw the Green Lantern. Yes, the Green Lantern. A car was about to run him over but before he could there was a flash of light and suddenly he was in the Green Lantern’s arms and he had a big smile on his face.

There was another thing about Timmy. He was very curious. So, when big green cars filled with soldiers started going through the city, Timmy decided to follow them.

Timmy was a small boy so it was easy to hide. He saw the military with their guns and tanks and in the centre of it all was a man with white hair and bushy eyebrows yelling orders into a microphone. He reminded Timmy of his grandfather who yells at him and even his father when he was angry.

They were all surrounding the old motel his father always avoided. From his hiding spot by the alleyway, he saw a soldier knocking a door upstairs.

And then without permission the soldier barged into the room.

What happened next was too fast for little Timmy’s curious eyes to process.

The soldier was launched across the sky and there was a crack that made Timmy’s stomach twist.

There was a roar like thunder and the sound of guns roared like a hurricane, Timmy couldn’t hear his own voice. The world shook as a green monster leapt from the motel and started crashing through trucks like they were Lego sets. There were sounds of people screaming, and guns, and tanks. Buildings started falling around Timmy and the whole world seemed to turn inside out as the beast tore through everything with the strength of tanks.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

He was curled up in the alleyway, crying as the world was torn around him, his eyes tightly shut.

Boom, went the monster’s footsteps.

Bang, bang, bang went the guns.

And boom, boom, boom. The footsteps came closer like the rumblings of an earthquake.

He didn’t want to open his eyes; he didn’t want to open his eyes.

He opened them anyway.

And saw a pair of venom like green eyes staring at him.

The monster ran away and Timmy was found by the soldiers, the heroes. The heroes won, they always won.

But after what he saw, what he experienced, the nightmares that plagued him at night and the sounds that haunted his dream; Timmy didn’t live happily ever after.

The End.