Head of rat leaves fur between teeth.
Head of fish sticks scales to tongue.
Head of human creates a euphoria between Heaven and Hell, so good to enjoy yet overbearing to resist. Where life continues, another goes. It builds peace where once a painful urge in the gut created panic.
They step back on only two feet, frozen while a body crumples to a twitching mass on cold pavement. They stand alone while five others kiss the ground, as if praying to the rigid figure before them.
"May we go now?"
"Perhaps..."
"Then why the delay?"
"We see meat."
"You see their dog."
A bulky dog snaps from on a heavy chain, the other end attached to the townhouse.
"Yes, and your point is?"
"I like dogs."
"We like dogs."
"Does that mean you'll refrain from eating it?"
"WE will refrain."
"I'm not the one who enjoys eating dogs."
"Then what was it we had last night?"
"Beef."
"We like beef."
"No, Venom, you don't."
"You're right. I hate it. It's dead. Have something else to eat."
A low sigh and the lone figure strolls from the alley and into white streetlight.
The transition has been rather easy since that day with Riot and Carlton Drake. After the chaos wrapped itself up in a nifty explosion, one to rival a firework factory going off, the two of them have been on vacation. Sort of. They can focus on their symbiosis and maybe, just maybe, finding a job for Eddie.
On the walk home, a certain voice in Eddie's ear inspires confidence.
"You could be a newscaster again, Eddie. Find more bad men and make them disappear."
Eddie almost laughs. It's a dry motion inspired by Venom's clear motive here. "You mean bite their heads off."
"Yes."
"We'll talk about it later."
"When will this 'later' be, Eddie?"
"Later."
Leaves are raked back into tall pyramids of orange and red. The rake being used is broken in three places and electrically taped in the middle. It may have been broken in half due to an accident long ago.
The cool breezes blows through the line of small maples, the trees casting shadows on the empty neighborhood road. The cement is cracked and grass is growing through. At least for now, until the nightly frost will kill it.
The rake is left against a white siding wall.
A woman moves for the sidewalk, green headphones popped in. A jazzy, electronic remix fills her ears, making her walk embarrassing to anyone who sees her.
But she doesn't care.
All she cares about is getting to her new job and experiencing something new. It's a coffee shop on the corner of a busy intersection. The energy and drive she feels in her bones begs for motion and, in such a place, she'll be more than busy.
So excited, in fact, that the leaves swishing up behind her are charred black.