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Waking up in a military hospital after destroying Area 51…well, it didn’t bode well. It sucked, in fact. But the loss of Venom was starting to sink in and Eddie was too busy panicking to truly appreciate the deep shit he was in.
Then only a minute later a general was telling him that he was free to go. It was baffling, and perhaps the first stroke of good luck he’d had in ages, but the panic made it hard to feel relieved.
By the time he’d recovered enough to leave he’d gotten over his panic. Instead he just felt sad and lonely. Venom was gone and Eddie was still here. He would have to figure out how to live by himself.
He spent days wandering the streets of NYC missing his symbiote. The ache in his chest was so strong it almost felt absurd, like drowning on a sunny day in the shadow of the Times Square M&M’s World sign.
He visited the Statue of Liberty and wondered if he was only doing this for himself, or if there was some part of Venom that still existed. Venom had lived in every system of Eddie’s body. He had known Eddie’s memories. He had even revived Eddie after deadly injury. How was it possible for something that deeply embedded to be gone?
But as he looked up at Lady Liberty, no familiar voice shared its earnest appreciation, sounding like the quintessential tourist. So he had to appreciate the statue himself, earnestly, the way Venom would’ve, and it wasn’t that hard when he imagined Venom was still inside him, looking through his eyes.
He meandered to the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, remembering all the times Venom had belted songs off-key in his head. It was so quiet now. There was plenty of noise all around him but his own mind felt disturbingly silent.
Yeah, Eddie was in trouble.
Then, as he left Central Park, he was kidnapped.
---
He woke up once again in a hospital bed, but this time the room was clearly a cell. There was only one door, and next to it was a large mirror. Because Eddie wasn’t born yesterday, he figured it was an observation window for those who weren’t in the cell. A toilet and sink sat in one corner.
Like last time, he was hooked up to a vital sign machine. He felt a flash of irritation at that—his kidnappers were the ones who had injected him with something, why should they pretend they cared how fast his pulse was?—and peeled off the blood pressure cuff with aggression. The Velcro was disappointingly quiet.
The machine started beeping, but it had an off button so Eddie solved that problem.
He felt hazy. It seemed wise to stay in the bed for now. The blood pressure cuff had fallen in his lap. Eddie fidgeted with it, pulling the Velcro apart and letting it fall back together over and over.
It didn’t take long for someone to come in. He was about Eddie’s age, maybe a bit younger or just better moisturized than Eddie. He was tall with sandy blond hair and was dressed in dark slacks and a gray sweater. Nothing about him felt military or mad-science-y.
Had he been kidnapped by a tech bro? A venture capitalist?
A part of Eddie was surprised he even cared, but it was probably wise to know who held your life in their hands.
“I don’t…” Eddie’s voice came out raspy and he had to clear his throat. “I don’t understand. They said I was free to go.”
The man didn’t look confused. He smiled. “Oh, I’m not with the US government.”
Eddie nodded slowly. “Yeah. You’re not exactly dressed like it. Are you with the Life Foundation?”
Again there wasn’t even a pause. “No, Eddie, I’m not Carlton Drake’s successor.”
Eddie stared for a moment, starting to feel as unsettled as he probably should have from the moment he woke up. You have me at a disadvantage flashed through his head as if he were an Austen heroine. He didn’t want to ask the man’s name, though. The man looked like he loved to talk about himself. Eddie held his tongue, hoping that would annoy him.
Sure enough, the pleasant smile dropped. “I have a full schedule today so I can’t stay long. I wanted to introduce myself. You can call me John.” He paused, giving Eddie a chance to say something, which passed awkwardly. “Some of my staff will be coming in to draw blood and run tests. If you cooperate I’ll make the experience as painless as possible.”
And if I don’t? Eddie refrained from asking. The answer seemed pretty obvious anyway.
“I’ll be back tomorrow. Do try to behave, Eddie.”
John turned to leave. Eddie tried to flip him off but his arm got tangled in the cord of the blood pressure cuff and John was already gone by the time Eddie had freed himself.
---
Eddie did behave for the blood draw, but not because of John’s threat. It just seemed pointless to fight when he was still feeling loopy. There were two nurses (he hoped they were nurses); one was impressively burly and the other one didn’t look like a weightlifter but did wield a needle. Eddie figured if he didn’t cooperate, they’d just restrain him further or sedate him.
The vital sign machine had been replaced with a bedside table. Burly Nurse held Eddie’s arm on the table while Needle Nurse tightened a tourniquet and found a vein. Eddie turned his head away.
He wasn’t scared of needles. He had enough ink to prove that. And it wasn’t like he fainted at the sight of blood. But he felt his eyes burning as he stared resolutely at the wall.
He remembered the last time he’d had his blood drawn. It had been after the Carnage fiasco. He’d been about to flee San Francisco when Anne texted him, asking him to come over. She and Dan wanted Eddie and Venom to have a good meal and a good night’s rest before they hit the road as fugitives.
We like them, Venom had said, eager to accept the invitation. And staying in this city one more night will not put us at further risk.
Of course, because there was finally a moment to breathe after finding out Venom was back, Dan had wanted to check if Venom was causing any more organs to fail. “Doctors!” Eddie had scoffed. “An alien parasite gives you organ failure once and it’s all they can think about.”
Dan had rolled his eyes as Venom had boomed, Not a parasite!
Eddie hadn’t been worried, honestly. He felt fine, and the recent battle had convinced him that he and Venom really were symbiotic. But Venom had wanted to follow the doctor’s orders, so he shrugged and acquiesced.
Going to the hospital had been out of the question, but Dan stopped by his office and grabbed some supplies. “At least we’ll learn some basics about your health,” he’d said, setting some tubes on the kitchen table where they were sitting. “I should warn you though, I never draw blood. It’s been years, literally. I might suck at this.”
Anne had been watching them, her eyes glittering in that way they did when she was intrigued. “What about Venom? He’s inside Eddie. He should be able to help.”
And Venom had. Dozens of black tentacles had extended from Eddie’s body, gently anchoring him to his chair and his arm to the table. In just a few seconds Eddie was so firmly tied down he could barely move a muscle. Venom’s large head had nestled against Eddie’s own. I will guide the needle in, he announced. And I will keep Eddie comfortable as you extract his blood.
Despite the weirdness of it all, Eddie had felt good. Maybe it was the post-fight adrenaline still flooding his body, but maybe it was also Venom’s tentacles snaking across Eddie’s skin. It had been almost cozy, sitting in the kitchen with his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, half-engulfed by his symbiote while Venom used one tentacle to constrict his upper arm and several small tendrils to direct a needle into his vein.
Dan had actually punched the air when blood filled the tube he’d snapped into place. Either he’d been delighted to have an alien assisting him, or he really was just that excited to get a vein on the first poke. Anne had been grinning. And Venom had squeezed Eddie softly, like a hug.
A sharp pain brought Eddie back to the present. He blinked rapidly, willing away any tears. He knew why this was distressing him so much; the lab tests could only come back normal. They would find no trace of Venom.
---
John did come back the next day. Probably. Without windows or clocks it was hard to say for certain, but Eddie had been served two meals, which he picked at for lack of anything else to do. At one point the lights had dimmed. At some point he woke up and the lights were bright again.
John was in a sweater again, but this time it was green. He looked like an asshole boss who was trying to participate in Casual Friday but didn’t know how. The green was nice, though. There were so few colors in the room.
“Hi, Eddie,” John said with a smile.
Eddie looked away.
He could hear John approaching the bed. “I’m sure you have questions for me, Eddie. Which is fine because I have plenty of questions for you. I thought we could spend some time answering each other’s questions today.”
Eddie breathed in, counted to five, and breathed out. He was a talker by nature but maybe that part of him had died with Venom. Or maybe he just didn’t want to humor his captor.
“I’ve read the file the US government has on you. The Life Foundation had notes on you and I’ve read those too. I know you were the host to an alien.”
Host to an alien. It sounded so formal, like an intergalactic exchange program. Considering his shitty San Francisco apartment and his penchant for fucking things up, Eddie doubted he’d qualify. Good thing Venom had been a loser like him.
He remembered the time Venom had tried to cheer him up by cooking him eggs. Host to an alien. It was true, but so inadequate.
“The Life Foundation believed that the aliens would form a symbiotic bond with humans. Which is a great theory, except that all their test subjects died horribly.” The thin mattress dipped as John perched himself on the foot of the bed. “The Area 51 files show a more promising picture. Detective Mulligan survived with an alien organism in his body, but both he and the alien were destroyed before they could be separated. We don’t know if the alien left anything of Mulligan intact. It’s possible it was just keeping the body alive and the mind was subsumed.”
Eddie kept counting his breaths. It was tempting to try to kick John, but the angle was bad.
“Of course there was the whole situation with Cletus Kasady, but there’s so little data there. An alien infected him and he was dead the next day. Which leaves you, Eddie. Not only did you survive more than a year with the alien, all tests indicate that the alien is gone from your body. And you seem, more or less, intact.”
More or less. Eddie fought the urge to laugh.
John patted Eddie’s blanket-covered leg. “So what was it like? I want to know everything.”
Seconds passed by. John let the silence stretch for a minute or two. “Do you think you’re special, Eddie? Just because an alien parasite infected you? It seems like you want to keep knowledge of extraterrestrials all to yourself. Very selfish.” He squeezed Eddie’s leg. “And here you sold yourself as a populist back when you were a reporter.”
Eddie shifted his leg away, and John let go. It was hard to keep his breathing steady when he was trapped with a man intent on poking his grief with a sharp stick. If Venom was alive, he’d have eaten John yesterday.
“Did the alien communicate with you? We know they can communicate through their hosts, but did it communicate to you directly?”
Another minute passed.
“Maybe you’d like some coffee. Would that make you feel a bit chattier? If you tell me how you take your coffee, I’ll have someone bring it.”
Eggs and brains for breakfast, with a cup of black coffee. It was hard to breathe at all, actually.
“You can’t keep this to yourself, Eddie. Anything the alien told you is vitally important.”
“He had a name,” Eddie snapped.
John was quiet, and Eddie finally turned his head to look at him again. John was smiling. “Well, that’s exciting. I’d be happy to use it going forward. What was his name?”
Bite his head off. It’ll get rid of his smile. Eddie’s chest hurt, and there was a ringing in his ears. He turned his head away.
He didn’t know how much time passed after that. He didn’t notice John leave, but when he looked some indeterminate time later, the man was gone.
---
John came back the next day (or maybe it was two days; Eddie lost count of the meals he barely touched). Eddie ignored him and he left after several amicably insults and threats. On the fourth visit he seemed angrier and spoke less. Eddie only had to ignore a few terse questions before John stalked out of the cell.
He didn’t come back for quite a while after that.
Eddie wondered if John watched him through the two-way mirror. Likely he had staff to monitor his captive. Either way, Eddie didn’t give them much to see. He got out of bed to use the toilet and to move when his body started aching. He used the washcloths and soap that appeared by the sink to wash off as best he could when he felt up to it.
Clean sheets and clothes also appeared every so often, and Eddie really had to work up the effort to change those.
It was dull in a way that Eddie had never experienced before. Aggressively, oppressively dull. He knew he’d be going out of his mind if he weren’t already half out of it. He almost wished Burly Nurse and Needle Nurse would come back. He could probably strike up a conversation with them. Maybe they hated John, too.
You should try to escape, he tried to tell himself. But John seemed like the kind of guy who would make escape difficult. And as much as Eddie chafed at his tiny, lonely cell, he had a hard time picturing what he’d be doing if he weren’t trapped. Sightseeing in NYC? Journalism in San Francisco? It all seemed so far away.
So he lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. When he was feeling especially adventurous he did pushups and situps, or lay on the floor in a vaguely-remembered yoga pose.
When John came back next, he was in a yellow sweater. Eddie hated that he found the color so appealing.
“I brought coffee," John announced, and set one of two to-go cups on the bedside table. “If you want cream or sugar you’ll have to tell me.”
It smelled really, really good. Eddie looked at John, who was nonchalantly sipping his own cup, then looked at his own hands. Bizarrely, isolation was making his own body look unfamiliar to him. He went days without seeing anybody’s hands but his own, and yet they looked stranger by the day.
Eddie picked up the coffee and took a sip. It was too hot and startlingly bitter, but he didn’t put the cup back down.
John saw, of course, but he didn’t react. Eddie figured that non-reaction was very calculated.
“I was watching some of your old reports earlier today,” John said casually, like he was mentioning an episode of Friends he’d caught on TV. “You were explaining some legislation while walking through a park, and you were interrupted a couple times by people saying hi to you. You always said hi back, and you knew several of the people’s names.”
John’s gaze was intent. “The camera was on, of course, so maybe it was an act. But you really did seem to care about people, individually and as a whole. And yet, by all accounts, the alien parasite used you to kill.
“So I want to know, was it against your will? Or were you okay with killing once your own life was threatened? You’d just never been in that situation before. Or maybe the alien convinced you that it was necessary?”
As John spoke, Eddie felt a knot forming in his stomach. A bit of all three. He took another drink, the bitter flavor washing over his tongue.
“I was thinking about compartmentalization. You know, the way the human mind holds conflicting ideas simultaneously. Lets us pretend the bad thing is fine when we really want to do the bad thing.”
Eddie cleared his throat. It had been a while since he’d spoken, and it came out raspy. “Is that how you justify keeping me?”
John looked delighted. “Sure! Although, I’ll be honest, I don’t think it’s that bad to keep you confined safely. You have intimate knowledge of an alien species that we know almost nothing about. It’s foolish to let you go! I don’t expect you to agree with me, but this?” He gestured at Eddie and the room. “It’s not straining my moral code. But even if it was…yes, Eddie, I’d probably compartmentalize and do it anyway. I like that I get to talk to the only surviving alien host.”
Eddie frowned down at his coffee.
“Maybe you don't want to tell anyone about your experience because you’re worried no one will understand. But I want to understand. I’m not the US Military; I’m not looking for the aliens’ weaknesses or the advantages they could give us. I just want the knowledge.”
John stared intently at Eddie. “These are sentient creatures from another solar system. What are they like?”
A lot of them were assholes. A few were pretty cool, though. Eddie hesitated. This guy had admitted that he didn’t care about Eddie’s human rights. It sucked to give him what he wanted. But maybe telling John a few things wouldn’t be so bad. Having someone to talk to was maybe better than having no one to talk to.
“What was your alien like?” John asked.
Eddie let out a shaky breath. “His name was Venom.”
John’s eyes widened briefly, surprised and pleased, but he schooled his features and nodded. “Venom. What was Venom like?”
“He was– he was stubborn.” Eddie grimaced. He missed fighting with Venom so much, even remembering how nasty their fights could get. Obstinate as a mule. “Once he had an idea there was no changing his mind.”
“Did you often try to change his mind?”
Eddie laughed. “I mean, yeah. He had terrible ideas.” Like leaving me out of our big heroic sacrifice. He blinked rapidly and looked down. “Like always wanting to eat brains. And chocolate, but I didn’t try to talk him out of that one. Even when he wanted the expensive stuff from that tea place on Grant Avenue. I mean, damn, chocolate was the least crazy thing he wanted.” Eddie realized he was babbling, and worse, close to tears. He snapped his mouth shut.
John watched him for a few long moments. “I’d love to hear about other times you tried to change his mind. Or Venom’s opinions on other foods. Anything you have to share about Venom is fascinating.”
Eddie shook his head. “I, uh, don’t want to talk anymore.”
“Okay, that’s fine.” John patted Eddie’s shoulder, Eddie barely stopped himself from flinching. “Thank you for opening up a little today. I hope we can talk again soon.”
---
It was more than a couple days—judging by the meal trays and light cycles—before John came by again. Loneliness had settled into Eddie, a familiar cold fog. He was self-aware enough to realize that he was relieved when John came back. He even decided to forgive John for wearing the same gray sweater he’d worn the first time.
John handed him coffee and a chocolate bar. It took a moment for Eddie to recognize the label. It was the expensive chocolate that was Venom’s favorite. Eddie looked up in surprise. “What—?”
“I had a business partner visiting from San Francisco yesterday. I asked him to pick some up.”
Eddie turned the bar over and over in his hands. “You’re trying to reward me for talking.”
John smiled. “Is it working?”
Eddie carefully opened one end of the wrapper and broke off a piece. As he brought it to his mouth the aroma mingled with that of the coffee, warming him with memories of his previous life. The taste was sweet and rich. If Venom was still here, he’d be thrumming with satisfaction from the phenethylamine, and Eddie would be feeling an echo of that elation. Maybe he still was, because something about the chocolate was soothing.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” John said when Eddie went for a second piece.
They talked a little more that day. Eddie didn’t want to share too much about Venom, but John was happy to hear anything. Eddie avoided any details about Venom’s initial purpose, or his species, or anything about his creator and the codex. So he spoke about Venom’s hobbies. How he ate chickens but kept two as pets for a time. How he liked listening to the radio, especially the oldies station. How he thought skyscrapers, motorcycles, and dance clubs were some of humanity’s greatest achievements.
John left visibly happy. The next time he visited, he brought Eddie a bluetooth speaker that looked like a vintage radio. “It’s connected to an oldies playlist, but I can change that if you want.”
It reminded Eddie of a show about zookeepers that he and Venom had watched. Animals need enrichment in their enclosures. But the regular visits and the occasional treats did seem to lift Eddie’s fog.
The music was invigorating. Getting out of bed to stretch and exercise was a hundred times easier with the Bee Gees encouraging him. It was maybe a paradox, but John’s gifts helped put Eddie in a mental state where he could think about escaping.
He started to wonder if he should try to take John by surprise and bash him over the head with the side table. The problem was he had no clue what lay beyond the door. If he played along—played the long con—maybe John would treat him to a short trip outside. Then at least he’d have some idea of what he was working with.
One day, Eddie told John about how Venom worried when Eddie was sad, and often tried to cheer him up. “He considered us both fuckups, I guess, and he wanted us both to be better. He cooked me breakfast, and he was really, really bad at cooking.”
He carefully avoided mentioning that Anne was the reason he had been sad (he didn’t tell John about other people) and that fire was one reason Venom sucked at cooking (he didn’t tell John Venom’s weaknesses).
John cocked his head to the side. “Would you say, Eddie, that you and Venom loved each other?”
Eddie stared at him. “Uh…” Lie to him!, he told himself. But he suspected John wouldn’t believe him if he tried.
Would it hurt to tell the truth? It wasn't like that information could be used against other symbiotes. It could only have ever been used against Venom, and that didn’t matter anymore. “Yeah. I mean, I can’t speak for Venom, but he seemed to care, sometimes.” When it mattered most. And at the end, damn him.
John considered him quietly for a moment. “I watched you wandering around New York. You really seemed out of it. At the time I thought that, with the alien—sorry, Venom—out of you, you were in shock because it had been such a traumatic experience.”
That earned a bitter laugh from Eddie. “Well, it was.”
“But it wasn’t PTSD that had you acting like the walking dead, was it? You’re grieving Venom.”
Eddie swallowed. It sounded loud in the small room.
“Incredible. I wonder how love correlates with symbiosis. Does symbiosis perhaps…mimic the brain chemistry of love? Or does it work the other way? Maybe the reason you and Venom were able to bond when so many failed is because you were both…open to it emotionally.”
Can’t two losers love each other without you making it weird? Eddie thought, irritated. He didn’t talk to John anymore that session, but John didn’t push very hard and he didn’t seem dispirited when he left.
He wasn’t pleased when Eddie didn’t talk to him the next time, though. He’d brought one of the nice chocolate bars, but he took it back off the side table when his questions went unanswered.
It was several days at least before he came again.
Something was off right away. He was wearing one of his typical sweaters, but it was dirty and rumpled. This wouldn’t have been noteworthy on most people, but John was always immaculately groomed. He was carrying one of the chocolate bars, but he’d opened it and eaten half, it seemed.
“What’s wrong?” Eddie asked, and then wanted to slap himself. Who asked their captor that?
John didn’t reply. He walked over to Eddie’s bed, his gait strangely stiff and jerky, and collapsed.
“Holy shit!” Eddie slid out of bed and ran to the door, peering out into a dimly lit hallway. There was no one there.
“Fuck fuck fuck,” he muttered under his breath. This might be his best chance to make a run for it, but he had no idea where to go or what obstacles he’d face. He had no shoes. Why did he keep finding himself in danger with no shoes?
If he stayed and helped John, it would be an immense show of good will. John would definitely trust him more. He could ask for a trip outside and at the very least learn if he was in a house or an office building or some kind of base. Would waiting for more information be worth it?
Fuck. John was starting to stir and Eddie didn’t have time to think. He dashed out of the door and pulled it shut behind him, hearing it lock with a satisfying click.
The hallway extended darkly to the right and ended in a stairwell to the left. Eddie gave it a moment’s consideration and headed for the stairwell.
“Eddie!”
Eddie froze in his tracks and glanced back. Through the two-way mirror he could see John struggling to stand from his hands and knees.
“You must let me out! I have come to save you!”
Eddie knew it was a terrible idea, but he felt pulled back to the observation window. Maybe it was his journalistic instincts, but the nonsensical statement compelled him. He wanted to know what John meant by that.
He pressed the intercom button next to the door. “Come to save me? You’ve kept me trapped here for god knows how long!”
“That wasn’t me, Eddie.”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“You do not recognize me. I do not blame you. I am having difficulty controlling this one, and I do not look or sound like myself.”
A horrible, sinking feeling was growing in Eddie’s chest. “No. No.” How could dread feel so strong when he was jacked up on adrenaline?
“It is me, Eddie. Venom.”
A buzzing was filling his head and he felt sick. “Venom is dead, John. You can’t trick me.”
“Enough of me survived that I was able to recover. You must let me out, and I will leave this terrible man and reunite with you!”
He sounded like Venom. Maybe. The way he spoke was Venom’s, but the familiar boom was missing from his voice. No, maybe he didn’t sound like Venom at all. It was probably wishful thinking.
“No, Venom is gone. That’s—that’s the only reason I was talking to you. Venom is gone and you kept asking about him, and I guess it felt good to tell someone what he was really like. But you fucking suck, John. I’m leaving.”
John took a lurching step toward the window. “No, Eddie, you will need me to escape. And I need you. This host is very bad…like trying to bond with one of your MRI machines. I will not be able to control him much longer.”
Eddie stumbled back. John didn’t know about the way certain frequencies could hurt Venom. Did he? Maybe the Life Foundation had figured it out. Maybe the government had. He fumbled for the intercom button. “If you were really Venom, you’d show yourself.”
“I cannot! It’s taking everything to keep this man from calling his guards. This room is not airtight, but there are no gaps that lead straight to you. I might not get to you in time. I will not risk it. You must come to me.”
“Stop it!”
“Eddie.” John was staring at him, though to him he must have been staring at a mirror. His mouth was open in a toothy smile.
Bile was rising in Eddie’s throat. “I’m sorry I locked you in. I’m sorry I’m going to try to escape now. But I’m not yours and I never will be. So stop pretending my dead partner is inside you. It’s ghoulish.”
John lurched forward again and slapped the glass. It made Eddie jump. “I will forgive you because this man has been messing with your head. He has made you tell him many things about us. But not everything. You never told him how quickly I knew we belonged together. I told you that you were mine the first time I showed myself to you. And I was right.”
Eddie felt his heart speed up.
“You must believe me. Because I have never been as happy on this planet as when I was with you. And I know you felt the same, despite being a whiny bitch about it. If you do not open the door, we might never have that again. Do not tell me I survived a deluge of acid for this!! Let me touch you!”
Shakily, Eddie asked, “What did you say to me before you died?”
“I did not die, Eddie. But I told you it was just goodbye for now.”
He was unlocking the door before he could have second thoughts. John—not just John, hopefully not just John—reached for him the instant he stepped inside. Eddie had a brief panicked moment of doubt but the next instant John’s hand was gripping his forearm and Venom was flowing into him.
He’d made the right call. Relief was so strong he felt dizzy. Or maybe that was still the adrenaline.
It is good to be back, Venom purred in his head as he resettled into Eddie’s body, as at home in the intracellular spaces as the ink in Eddie’s oldest tattoos. Finish the chocolate bar. We need the fuel.
Eddie obeyed eagerly, demolishing the bar in giant bites. Had it tasted good before? It tasted fantastic now. And then Venom was flowing out and around him, fully taking over. This will be quicker.
“Are you going to eat John?” Eddie asked. He thought he should feel satisfied by the idea, but instead he just felt nauseated.
Venom turned to look at the man’s half-conscious body sprawled on the floor. No, he will taste terrible. Venom stepped toward the door again, but just before they exited Venom reached back and Eddie thought he heard a snap. But he couldn’t be sure because Venom never turned to look, and sound was muffled when he was encased like this.
Venom wasn’t subtle about getting them out. They took a stairwell all the way to the top floor and bashed through the ceiling onto a roof. The sudden sunlight was shocking, even through the milky filter of Venom’s eyes. They appeared to be on top of a mansion, overlooking several other smaller buildings and a sprawling, snow-covered yard. Beyond the yard was an expanse of forest, the leafless and evergreen trees stark against the white.
Huh, Eddie thought. It was winter.
From there Venom scaled them down an outside wall. At some point someone shot at them, but either Venom dodged the bullets or he absorbed them without injury.
At the edge of the property was a motorcycle, with a large duffle bag perched on the seat. I had to follow many leads and bodyhop many hosts to find you, Venom informed him as he slung the bag’s crossbody strap over his head and straddled the bike. But that means I learned the area and came prepared. You will be safe and free very soon.
“Thank you,” Eddie said. It was starting to really sink in that Venom was here, and was taking care of everything. The adrenaline rush was starting to fade, leaving him exhausted.
You do not have to thank me. You are mine and I am yours.
“You’ll always find a way to keep me…” Eddie slurred, remembering what the general had told him.
Yes. So you must always find a way to keep me, too.
“It’s a deal,” Eddie said. He could see through Venom’s eyes that they were driving along a road that hugged the forest. He was sure it was freezing but he didn’t feel cold.
This was real. Back inside that room, he could barely remember how bright the sun shone or how completely Venom held him. There was no way he could dream it this vividly.
He drifted off, wrapped up in his symbiote’s tendrils, content to let Venom steer.
---
Eddie woke up when the motorcycle ran out of gas. Venom casually flung it into the woods like an empty Coke can. The sun was low in the sky and Eddie felt a bit more with it.
“Wasn’t there a gas station anywhere?” he asked as Venom slithered back inside him, letting him stretch.
More trouble than it’s worth. I can make our legs twelve feet tall. We will run as fast as your little machine.
“A giant creature running on two legs through the woods? That won’t cause any Bigfoot sightings.”
I have seen a documentary about this Bigfoot. Its existence is dubious. And I will look nothing like it.
“Sure, buddy.”
Venom took over again and guided them through the trees. Before the sun set they arrived at a large frozen lake. Snow blanketed the edges, but along the middle the wind had swept the ice clear. It was serene and beautiful, perhaps the ultimate opposite of John’s tiny cage.
We are stopping here for the night. And for food.
“Uh, food?” Eddie glanced through Venom’s eyes, but they seemed completely alone.
Fish. Beneath the ice. We are going ice fishing, Eddie.
Before he had much time to process that absurd image, Venom had dropped the duffel bag and bounded onto the ice. Apparently finding the perfect spot, he punched down, hard. The air echoed with ominous cracking. Venom punched again, then extended dozens of tentacles to pull at the breaking hunks of ice. Teeth might have been involved; Eddie really wasn’t sure.
Then they were diving in, tentacles whipping out in search of fish. Eddie had seen images of horrifying deep-sea creatures and he was sure they rivaled the worst of them. It was comforting to be the monster again.
It was so dark and quiet. Eddie realized he was holding his breath and remembered he didn't have to. Venom had him covered.
It is a bit like outer space down here, floating in the cold.
Do you miss it? Eddie managed to ask without speaking.
No. I like the way your planet’s atmosphere traps your star’s warmth. It is much better.
When Venom had collected several large fish he turned himself toward the faint light of the surface. The hole he’d punched had filled with slush and pieces of ice. He had to fight his way back out, using dozens of tendrils to provide leverage.
Eddie must have drifted off again because the next time he looked around he was sitting in a cave. A tiny campfire was burning a few feet away. The last pale rays of twilight were spilling in through the nearby cave mouth and a few scattered skylight-like holes.
Venom’s tentacles were extending out of both Eddie and the cave’s entrance, busy doing something.
As much as he hated to move away from the fire’s warmth, Eddie was feeling well enough that curiosity was kicking in. He crawled over to the entrance and peeked out. The tentacles were picking through the nearby woods, holding up sticks and rocks and shaking the snow off of them. Eddie laughed; it looked like a Lovecraftian Horror on a scavenger hunt.
Eddie! Venom’s head appeared next to his. You are doing better! You were in shock.
“I was not in shock.”
I am inside your body. I can tell when things are not good and you were not good.
Eddie sighed, deeming the fight not worth it. He suspected Venom was right, anyway. “What are you doing?”
Finding supplies. Firewood. Stones to shield the cave. Venom wiggled a particularly nice stone proudly.
“Looks good, buddy.” Eddie crawled back to the fire. Something about being on his hands and knees reminded him of doing pushups in his cell. The tinny sound of classic rock on the shitty bluetooth speaker echoed in his head, and he shivered. “How did you find me?”
I had help. Venom shared the memory of barely surviving the acid tanks and grenades and Xenophages by bonding with a cockroach. He bodyhopped from bug to bird, then bird to bird, and made his way to San Francisco. I was hoping to find you safe there, but you had not come back.
As he told the story, Venom brought in and neatly stacked a pile of firewood. Then he carefully began making a small stone wall a few feet from the mouth of the cave. Eddie found it soothing to watch Venom fit the stones together like a puzzle.
Anne, Dan, and Mrs. Chen helped me search for you, but your trail disappeared in New York. So we looked for the scientists from Area 51 instead. And we found two. They were very helpful.
“But John… he wasn’t with Area 51, was he?”
No. He was just some rich asshole. He collected alien artifacts. But he bribed employees at Area 51 and the Life Foundation for information, which is how he learned about you. So you became the newest addition to his collection.
“Fuck.”
Yes Eddie, it was very fucked up that he thought he could have you. Venom’s tentacles shivered with anger. He was part of a website where people traded inside knowledge of extraterrestrials. The website was notorious at Area 51 for having correct information sometimes.
Eddie winced. “I told John a lot of things about you.”
The tentacles put down the last few stones they’d been holding and slithered back inside. Several wrapped themselves around Eddie’s torso. He bragged about his very rare, very exclusive knowledge of aliens. And because what you told him was uniquely about me, I was able to tell he had you.
Eddie stared at the fire. “So it wasn’t bad that I talked.”
No Eddie, it was not bad. It was what saved you. Venom bumped his head against Eddie’s. It took time. He did not disclose his identity on these forums, but we had a list of suspects thanks to the Area 51 scientists.
One day, he mentioned that the alien had a favorite chocolate. So Mrs. Chen and I went to the tea house and asked very nicely if any rich assholes had bought chocolate recently. From there I just followed the trail.
Eddie was stunned. He reached up and patted Venom’s head, wordless.
The fire is dying. Will you add a reasonable number of sticks? I almost burned myself the first time.
“Sure, buddy.”
There is more chocolate in the bag. We should eat some and then sleep.
“That sounds—that sounds perfect.”
And it was.