What a diabolical twist of events.  He had turned me into a giant lizard, and now I was forced to hunt for my next meal.  Except that would mean finding a lot of food because I am very hungry!

My tongue flashes out of my mouth without effort, instinctive for a komodo dragon.  But, the smells are so sharp, so palpable, that now I can taste them in the air.  A cage of small mice is on a table only a short way to my right in this jungle of a laboratory.  I can smell them like they were appetizers to be plucked off a tree; jumping and squealing without the possibility of escape.  But they would be barely a mouthful for me.
My body feels like pure muscle.  It seems to bend from side to side as I walk from one foot to the next, my feet turned inward, my head twisting to and fro to keep my balance.  And that long tail.  It could knock someone off their feet with only a moderate swipe.  It could also defend me from attack by anything but an equally sizeable and strong creature.

The irony of me being turned into a lizard like this, after having tried for so many years to save lizards like me, was despicable!  Now there were no other considerations.  I had become merely a fighting, eating, lusting creature; no concern for the future, no regard for the past, only a relentless drive to follow my instincts and the hunger so prominent in my belly.

I pushed open the laboratory door with just an indignant shove, then trudged down the hallway to a short stairway that led outside.  I raised myself up off the tile floor so that I didn’t need to drag my heavy body along with me which made my short but powerful legs support my massive girth making my movements awkward and slow.  But, I was poised for confrontation.  The sharp, thick, pointed claws on my feet were like talons that could shred flesh or rip aside anything that got in my way.

Outside, I picked up the pace.  One sweeping glance from left to right to make sure that there was nothing to impede me, then I disappeared into the dense jungle that surrounded the compound and picked my way carefully through the underbrush.  Birds flew out of reach, snakes slithered under fallen tree limbs or into underground holes, while monkeys and other noisy creatures squawked in the canopy of the jungle, alerting all to the presence of a killing machine.

Then, there he was in front of me!  It was Professor Ashmead!  He was the one who had done this to me.  He was the one who had transformed me into this komodo dragon.  He saw me and began to run, but I grabbed his leg with my powerful jaws and ripped his body into pieces so small that only the ants would finish him off.  Then, I ducked back into the forest to begin prowling for more food.  Another scientist would be delicious!

The taste of blood, flesh, and the appetizing texture of muscle made me chew my jaws together and lick my lips with that searching and always expressive tongue of mine.  It flicked and roamed through the air like a radar signal, noticing anything with a heat imprint and savoring the smells of even the faintest aroma.   My swagger exuded power, my jaws dripped with instant death, my eyes stared menacingly as I stalked through the jungle underbrush; without fear, without caution, but always alert.

Nothing could deter me.  Nothing eluded my senses.  I was an unstoppable eating machine, and I lusted for more flesh and carnage.  Then I heard a noise that I didn’t understand.  It sounded like a click, but it was deafening as I detected it.

My head jerked in that direction with all my senses focused on its origin.  But, as I turned, a high-powered bullet tore through the thick hide of my skull and splattered the mush of my brain against the greenery of the jungle like the splash of mud from a tire, and I was dropped instantly.

“Got him!” said the man who had fired the shot.  “Now let’s take him back to the lab to examine him.  His days of terrorizing are over!”

“Where’s Professor Ashmead?” another asked.  “He’ll want to know that we got that monster he was looking for.”

“Hey, here’s his hat,” another mentioned as he looked at the death scene.  Fragments of everything that had once been the Professor were strewn around the underbrush.  “I wonder if he already found him?  Professor?” he called out.  But, of course there was no answer.