Ana was in a particularly foul mood. She had been called down to the office because she was accused of passing notes. It took her half an hour to prove she was innocent, and by that point, the classroom was already coming up with wise cracks. She spent the rest of the day trying to find a way to get back at the accuser and trying to find a way to escape the annoying aforementioned wise cracks. The only upside was that she managed to escape history when school was for some unknown reason, ended early. She spent the rest of the day roaming the streets and catching up on homework. She was mentally cursing the numbskull who had decided to pin the transgression on her in every way she could imagine.
She looked up and noticed it was starting to get late. The sun was already setting. She didn't really care though. Her parents always had to work late. She threw her belongings into her bag and began the walk home. She looked out at the sky beyond the walls, wondering what was out there.
Ethan groggily woke up to the sun beating down on his face. He slowly pushed himself upright and rubbed his eyes. Suddenly, the events of the previous night hit him like a mightning bolt.
"Ah, your awake. I was becoming concerned."
Ethan spun his gaze from side to side, looking for the strange voice.
"Down here."
Ethan cast his gaze down and saw a symbiote on the ground, a single tendril connected to his foot. His heart leapt into his throat.
"Calm down. I'm not going to harm you."
Ethan began to slowly back away. The symbiote remained perfectly still. Finally, the tendril disconnected from his foot.
Okay... I'm really confused now.
The symbiote remained perfectly still. It seemed to be waiting for something. Ethan watched it cautiously. Finally, he decided to try talking to it.
"So, based on what I've observed so far, your species would normally take a human as a host at first opportunity. Why have you left me alone?"
The inky black goo made what he equated to be an exhasperated shrug. Then he realized.
"You can't talk to me unless we have physical contact right?"
The blob made a sort of motion that vaguely resembled a nod. Ethan thought for a second.
"I can't believe I'm doing this."
He lowered his hand to the symbiote and let it extend tendrils to meet it.
"Well, you certainly catch on quick. And to answer your questions, our two species are more alike than you think. For example, we are all different in some way."
Ethan took several moments to digest this information.
"So, you aren't going to turn me into a fanged monster of hellish terror?"
"Correct."
He spent a few more minutes digesting this new info, then asked another question.
"Are there others like you, who don't force themselves on a host?"
There was a short pause.
"Yes. The politically correct term for the majority of my species is Overlord. The rest of us are known simply as Abberations. We seek partnership. Not dominance."
Yet another useful piece of information. But there was one last thing that was unanswered.
"Why did you save me last night?"
"I thought you would appreciate some help. Besides, we've gotten along so far."
Ethan thought about it for a minute. It was true, they did seem to understant each other so far. But he was still a bit uneasy about this. The symbiote noticed.
"I completely understand why you are uneasy around me. But that is another reason I saved you. To begin making amends for what has happened."
A symbiote with a sense of morality. Guess the world is full of surprises.
"So, what now."
The symbiote seemed caught off guard by the question. It was silent for a few minutes before answering.
"That's up to you. I believe we would make a good team, but that's not for me to decide. This is your choice, and yours alone."
Decisions were something that Ethan had been taught to make quickly. And this one had to have been made quickly, for at that precise moment, A hosted symbiote had just finished scaling the building. Ethan noticed this immediately and realized that they were surrounded. Three more had appeared on all sides.
"Considering that the alternative is to be enslaved by a different symbiote, knock yourself out!" He shouted. Immediately the goo leapt into action. It snaked it's way up his legs, over his chest, and over his arms. It formed a sort of mask with the same eyes as the other symbiotes, but with no crazy mouth. A medium-dark grey spider logo materialized on his chest. The Strength that the symbiote was providing was unbelievable
"Okay, can you give me an instantaneous breakdown of what I can do now?"
A split second later, a flood of information surged through his brain. After he finished absorbing that knowledge, he leapt into action.
He shot a cord of what appeared to be black webbing from his wrist. It snagged on of the enslaved hosts, which he then proceded to swing in a wide circle, clubbing another host in the head, sending it hurtling off the edge of the building. After releasing the cord, he threw a punch at the next one, knocking it clean out. The final one hissed at him, unsure of how to attack. So, Ethan solved the problem in a flash. He shot two web cords at it's feet, then yanked them backwards, causing it to fall over. He then leapt into the air, and hurtled down for a powerful kick. The thing was sent straight through the concrete, and down to the lower levels.
"Well, that takes care of them." Ethan muttered. The symbiote seemed impressed.
"You've mastered some of your abilities within mere seconds. We do indeed work well as a team"
Ethan stopped and examined the scene before him.
"Looks like we're clear."
Ethan walked over to the ledge and sat down.
"I sometimes wonder what it was like before everyone fled behind that sonic shield."
The symbiote merely gave a mental shrug.
"I wouldn't know."
"Well, seeing as your already here, I don't see any problems with you sticking around."
"Very well"
The two spent the majority of the rest of the day discussing their next move.
"Even if we can beat a few of them, we still have to consider that they'll come after us in bulk. Our best move would be to begin moving to another abandoned city.
"Your idea does make sense. I guess that's settled."
Ethan nodded, threw his pack over his shoulders, then made a flying leap from the top of the building. He plummeted for a few seconds, then fired a web line and began a slow decent. Soon enough, he was on the ground.
"Time to start running again."
And so, the two new friends sprinted off towards the plains, away from the crumbling remains of a human civilization.
Ana closed the door to her house and slumped against the wall. She was starting to consider dropping out of school due to terminal boredom and jackasses who thought that someone's misery was funny. The fact that many people around school still thought she passed a note were teasing her for "getting caught", or simply staring at her. It was rather annoying. Especially since it was a regular occurance for someone to pass a note.
"Really. The level of immaturity in that place is astounding." Ana grumbled to herself as she stormed up to her room. She threw her things onto her bed and sat down at her desk, hoping that some research would get the events of the day off her mind. She had just finished logging in to her laptop when the phone rang. The call was from her father. Ana became confused. Her father never called from work unless he needed her to do something. She picked up the phone and pressed talk.
"Ana? Are you there?" Her father asked in a winded voice.
"Yeah dad, I'm here. Why are you calling?" She asked in a concerned voice.
"Listen, you have to find a place to hide, now! Someone broke into the main generator and is threatening to shut off the sonic shield!"
Ana's blood ran cold. That shield was their first and only true line of defence. If a symbiote got through, it could carry more with it and begin assimilating the population within. Many believed that they were the last free humans left in the world. She hoped that they were wrong, for they might be humanity's last hope.
"I'll be okay dad! Just don't get yourself killed!" Ana hung up the phone and shot out the front door.
She darted through the streets looking for a good place to hide in. Finally, she came to the library. It was large and had dozens of good hiding places. It also had a good view of the generator so she could see what was happening. She began to seek out the best spot. After careful observation, she spotted it. A storage area on the third floor of the library that overlooked the generator. She could see transports of soldiers heading towards it with everyone aboard.
"They certainly understand the weight of the situation." Ana murmered to herself.
At the exact same time, a squad had gone into the building to prevent the lowering of the shield. They were all armed with sonic rifles and pistols, just in case the maniac was actually a human host. Then, they heard the sound they all dreaded. A red strobe light began to flash and a siren activated. The shield was down.
Outside, panic was ruling the streets. Everyone was trying to hide from the potential menace that could be passing the border guard as they spoke. The military had split into two groups. One to guard the generator, and one to defend the city. Two more squads entered the building, praying to anyone that they were not too late. Suddenly, the sound of gunshots tore through the silence in the facility. One of the men dropped, and the rest began to fire their sonic guns down the hall. They heard someone wailing about an earsplitting sound. They immediately drew their pistols and fired. The wailing stopped. They found a man lying dead on the ground, a pool of blood slowly forming around him. strapped to his chest was a bomb, with a detonator in his hand. They quickly disarmed it and located the control room. After some tinkering, they managed to get the shields back online. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. But this had been to close a call. Were they truly safe?
A black shape stalked stealthily through the streets. Lithe, yet muscled, it hissed silently to itself. The pain it had endured to enter had been great, but worth it. This was the perfect place to begin a new nest. But it had to be silent about it. Discovery would get it no where. For now, it had to wait and plan. It slunk out of the light, and began searchin for the perfect place to observe and hide until the moment was most opportune. Unbeknownst to it, however, it was not unnoticed. A dark blue mass of goo with black tinges silently slimed after it, determined to keep up.
