What happened to Carl?

I love the Digital Comic Museum. So much potential creativity. Thanks to @ronald_2008  for this and many prompts to come. Bonus points – recaption the image and post a link to it in the comments!

Poor Poor Carl.
He was just walking through the zoo when a little kid threw their toy over the fence into the cage with the tiger. The mom started yelling at the kid, who then started crying hysterically. He was throwing a little hissy fit. He sat on the ground and then would not move. 
At this moment Carl was looking at the situation and feeling like he had to  do something. He watched the tiger and waited until the tiger left the fence and decided to make a move. 
He started climbing and the zookeepers started yelling. He wouldn’t stop though so he continued. He never looked down. He got to the top and let out a deep breath.
Once he was over he climbed down until he could drop. His feet thumped on the ground and he looked around to see if the tiger was around. It was nowhere to be seen so he ran over to the toy bent over and picked it up. While he was picking his head up he looked up to see tiger roaring about two feet away from his face.
As soon as he stood up straight the tiger pounced on him and then he woke up panting.

The doctor shook his head sadly as he looked at the nurse.
“Poor Carl, I just wish there was something we could do for him, but his compulsion seems incurable.” The nurse looked at the man in the bed before her. 
“Doctor- I don’t think I fully understand,” she said. “What exactly is his condition?”
“Well, Carl here’s compulsion is based around a song- you might have heard it, Eye of The Tiger? He has to listen to the song 24-7, or else he believes he will be brutally mauled by a large tiger. Of course, nothing happens to him, but if you turn it off he goes into such violent spams and convulsions of terror that we’re terrified he’ll give himself a heart attack. The only thing that can quell him is the song.”
“Wow,” the nurse said. “Talk about having a song stuck in your head.”

Forgot to add that I sort of revise the image and added a caption — https://www.flickr.com/photos/63729613@N05/15375470360/

Carl was allergic to cats and always joked that that was what drugs were for

until the night that he imagined the carousel tiger came to life.  
No more Benadryl.

As Carl looked into the eyes of the tiger, he quivered with fear.   The large cat stared at Carl with slitted yellow eyes waiting for him to react. 
“Should I run??,” Carl thought, “No I should stay still.  It wasn’t but in a moment that the large cat lunged at Carl, the yellow hue of the moonlight shone upon the three large gashes which protruded tissue and visceral tendons of what was Carl’s arm.  
Carl screamed in agony….the large cat still sat motionless on the large rock it’s mouth open as it panted and licked it’s blood stained paws as Carl watch as blood dripped out of his newly formed wound.
Carl staggered back towards the rock as he place one hand upon the large boulder to steady himself leaving a bloody hand print whose form soon began to spread out over the rock as the blood flow from Carl’s wound began to increase. 
“I’m going to die,” Carl thought…..
As Carl’s vision began to fade the edges of the picture of the cat in front of him became fuzzy at the edges.   As Carl’s vision began to fade he thought about the last two days of his life.
He had just lost his job, his wife had left him for his best friend. 
As Carl leaned against the large rock, he accepted it almost….”This is it, Carl thought,” …I am dying 
As Carl lay against the boulder his hand began to vibrate, it grew hot, red hot, to the touch! 
Carl looked at his hand as it began to sizzle and turn red, and his skins began to feel as if pins and needles were struggling to get out.   Carl watched in horror as the wound in his arm closed up and began to heal ,  however as it did this the skin on his other arm began to bubble, stretch and crack. 
Carl’s skin began to stretch and rip open. 
What the hell?!? Carl thought….as he watched in horror his skin split completely down the middle like a banana peel and it was as if a new arm emerged from the former skin on his arm. 
Carl watched in awe as a strange feeling of tranquility washed over him.  Carl’s vision then went completely black and he fell unconscious.
When Carl awoke he saw a strange cat-like woman standing over him, smiling with her sharp jagged teeth.
Carl look over her body, she had a long stripped tail and her entire body was covered with fur.  The silhouette of her fury frame entice him and Carl felt energized if not his senses heightened. 
Carl rubbed his hands over his body and he felt fur, all over his body, his chest, his face every where. 
And to add insult to injury Carl felt something protruding out of his backside…IT WAS A TAIL!
Carl quickly sprang to his feet, to his surprise he lept two feet into the arm.  He felt strong his new  leg and arm muscles made him feel strong.   
He looked at his right fore arm and expected to see the gaping wound the she-cat had given him. 
To his surprise the wound had all but healed.  Carl pushed back the newly formed fur which was on his forearm, three uniform scratches from her claws remained and had formed a scar. 
Carl looked over at the she-cat just in time to see her waddle into the under brush of the forest.  As if she knew Carl was looking at her she paused and turned to look back at her….was it Carl’s imagination or did she smile in some sort of twisted cat-like grin. 
Either way, Carl let out a low pleasurable growl and as if it was second nature he got on all fours and slowly strutted his way into the forest after his new found friend.  Whether Carl liked it or not….he was embracing his new life…as a were-cat.

Carl strolled through the zoo marveling at all the animals he came upon. The bears, hippos, lions were all fantastic but they were lacking for Carl. Everything change when he saw the Tiger habitat. Carl had seen pictures but that was nothing compared to seeing them in the flesh. Hearing their chuffs and watching them run together Carl suddenly had an idea. So he climbed into the enclosure and walked gingerly to the wild beasts. The tigers were dumbfounded and the leaped toward the unsuspecting soul who invaded their privacy. Right as the tiger was about to take the life of Carl he had a change of heart. The tigers took pity on Carl and gave him respect for doing the unthinkable. After his near death experience Carl decided to uproot his life as an accountant and open his own zoo. Where his main attraction was his rare White Tigers.

Carl felt the tiger’s hot breath on his face and smelled its fetid breath as it snarled at him.  He kicked it as hard as he could, but the tiger’s claws tore into his flesh and shredded his clothing. His legs became tangled among his ruined clothing, and suddenly realized he was barefoot as he continued to feebly kick at his relentless attacker.
Flashes of recent memory flared up in his adrenaline-addled mind, and his mind’s eye reviewed disjointed snapshots of his last few hours as if flashing through a slideshow at breakneck speed.  Trouble was, he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten into this mess.  He scooted backwards on the ground, his eyes never leaving those of his striped opponent, its eyes burning brightly against the dark background of the surrounding forest as it stalked him, snarling.
“How did I get here?  What’s happening to me?” he wondered as his panicky mind skipped over his most recent memories in confusion.
Just at that moment, his alarm clock went off and he sat up in bed, shaky and sweating.  Mr. Fluffykins purred, and playfully batted at his toes, gnawing at them and asking in his nicest manner for some breakfast.

“What the heck have I done!” though Carl as he stood face to face with 500 pound mass of fur and claws.  All Carl had wanted was a “selfie” with King Furmaggedon III, but after falling over the railing he found himself inches from death.

     “Please!” Carl pleaded.  “Please let me live, I’ll do anything!  Furmaggedon paused, shrugged his shoulders, and said:

     “Alright, you can go, as long as you bring me 100 cans of Fancy Feast™”

In shock, Carl managed a nod before speeding out of the tiger’s den through the now opened door, never to return.  Some say that King F is still waiting, plotting his revenge on the sorry human who dared to cross him.

Before even setting foot into the zoo for work this one day, Carl’s demise was already upon him, as alpha male Tiger, Tuco, had already had his sights on the day Carl was his assigned trainer. While routinely distributing food amongst the other tigers in the exhibit, it was unknown to Carl that Tuco did not care for the food, or anything else for that matter, but only cared on Carl himself. After Carl had finished giving out the meat to the tigers, Tuco saw an opportunity where Carl was by himself and out of sight from everybody and everything else. Before Carl had a chance to react, it was already too late and Tuco had already feasted on his satisfying meal.

Carl Cattler had a passion for large cats. So getting to spend time with a tiger was a great opportunity for him. Everything was going smoothly as Carl pet the tiger and fed it raw meat. Suddenly things turned sour for Carl though, he made the one mistake that you never make around tigers. Carl decided to play his favorite artist for the tiger who happened to be Taylor Swift, but everyone knows that you never play Taylor Swift for a tiger. Tigers are born with genes that makes them have a deep hatred for Taylor Swift’s music. The second that Carl decided to play the music for the tiger he had set his own demise. Carl was shredded to piece in the middle of the night and his screams of pain could not be heard over Taylor’s voice singing “I don’t know about you but I’m feeling twenty-two”……

Strolling through the park, Carl is quickly ambushed by a monstrous Tiger looking for it’s next meal. Carl froze up quickly, finding himself staring at death in the eyes of the tiger. Without warning, the beastly creature lunges his right arm at Carl, clawing out both of his eyes. With no vision, he frantically begins running and ends up hitting a tree head first. Carl is knocked out cold, but still breathing, and the ferocious feline quickly approaches and begins feasting on his living corpse. RIP

Carl Weathers the tiger’s onslaught, rising up to the challenge of his life. He goes on to share the Eye of the Tiger with other Survivors, and pities the fools who challenge them. Or, what Kernohan said.

After years of enjoying his own Bengal animal safari, Carl could walk among his stripped friends without any worries. Then, one day, Carl made the mistake of wearing his Bengal fur shoes into the park. Tony, the male Tiger, recognized them as his very own mate, Kitty, who had been missing for weeks. That serious mistake made Carl’s last sight be that of the eyes of the tiger.

He’s back on the street. He did his time, he took his chances, he went the distance.
Now he’s back on his feet:  just a man and the will to survive.
You know, so many times it just happens so fast. He traded his passion for glory. Last time I saw him I told him: “Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past; you must fight just to keep them alive.”
When the last known survivor stalked his prey in the night it was very different…
The were face to face… out in the heat. Carl was hanging tough, staying hungry.
They stack the odds, still he took to the street. He was the kill with the skill to survive

This is a story that should be remembered for eternity. Carl, our protagonist, is set face-to-face with a grown Bengali Tiger, by the name of Juan Pablo. Shaking and scared, Carl was nervous beyond belief for a seeming David vs. Goliath battle. Juan Pablo took a swing at Carl with his claws in position. Carl dodged the attack, drew his knife, attempting to stab the beast. Juan Pablo quickly disarmed Carl, knocking the knife out of his hand. He then proceeded to eat Carl. The end. And remember, don’t F*** with Juan Pablo.

Carl Cattler now sees nothing, but the eyes of the tiger. The tiger lunged forward and ripped his head clean off. What happened next was a bizarre feat that no tiger has ever accomplished. The tiger then mounted his head on a wall and stairs into his eyes; the tiger looks deeply into them, almost as though it is attempting to see into the life of its recent victim. The eye of the tiger is all Carl can see (if he could see at all really), and it is the thing that peers back into his very soul.
What was once Carl Cattler is now Carl the Deceased.

Carl started singing “Eye of the Tiger” and all of a sudden the tiger stopped attacking and sang along. And they all lived happily ever after.