So... ever seen free climbing before? Yeah. That. But worse.

They woke early; thirsty and hungry, with a stiff shoulder and a constellation of kinks running across their back.
Eddie sat up, ran a hand across their face, groaned, and got them to their feet.
Then they started trudging.

Only a handful of hours into their new, ever warmer, waterless day, the two extremely lost souls found something neither of them had been expecting. Not even a little bit.

It turned out the forest did have an end —of sorts—, and, without any warning, they were teetering on it.

That's where we need to be. Down there. Said Venom to the panicked human with the pinwheeling arms as they caught a glimpse of the other, never ending stretch of forest far, far below.

"How exactly are we supposed to get down there- down this giant cliff? Without dying? For good?" Asked Eddie as he regained their balance and backed further and further from the precipice they'd nearly walked right off of.

Forcing their legs to still, Venom made that hushing noise it turned out Eddie responded to rather well, and attempted to reason with his less reasonable half.
Do you see another way around?

"What? No, all there is is cliff for... How'd we miss it?" The barely functional guy asked as his symbiote muscled past the human's ridiculous urge to sink to their knees.

All we need is a meal and I can get us down. No problem. The one keeping them standing said with just as much confidence as he felt. Not bothering mentioning that their near tumble probably had something to do with the dazed, meandering, half-lidded shuffle they'd been doing since they scraped themselves off the ground that morning.

"Well, it's not like food's just gonna drop straight outta the sky for us, is it?" The guy with the pounding heart asked with an emphatic skyward gesture. "No, we're either gonna starve here- right here, or we're gonna find out what a long drop to a splattery end feels like when you know you can't fix it after!"

Yep. Venom had known it would happen eventually. Eddie was getting 'hysterical'. Happened in all the old movies. The weaker one in a duo eventually lost all hope and started blubbering uncontrollably, necessitating the one with the backbone having to yell at or often slap the other one.
Looking at his host though, Venom was pretty sure either of those corrective actions would be more than the poor, squishy human could take at the moment.

No, sadly, the old movies never covered what to do when the one beset by 'hysteria' was as frayed and understandably 'near the end of his rope' as Venom's starvation companion was in that moment.
So he figured he'd wing it. Gently.

Eddie-

The call of a large bird of prey screeching high above cut off both of their trains of thought quite handily.
What restarted their hunger pinched brain was the snake that plummeted from somewhere up in the sky to a bouncing stop not ten feet from them. Right along the rocks at the cliff's edge.

To say they jumped on the stunned lizard would be insufficient.
They pounced.
And then they devoured. Eddie not even waiting for Venom's fangs before biting into the yet wriggling creature. Seeming to enjoy the feeling of his own teeth sinking down through tough scales into the juicy, life giving flesh beneath.

Atta boy.

This is how we get down. Venom said even as he wrapped their jaw in his tougher, stronger mandible. We eat, then I climb.

Eddie just nodded, preoccupied with the satisfying crunch of the innumerable rib bones as the snake steadily disappeared. Transforming quick as it hit their stomach into a fuel Venom knew exactly what to do with.
The only thing about it giving him pause, giving them time to lick the juicy remnants from their clawed fingers, was how much this was going to hurt.
Hurt Eddie. Not Venom.

Alright. Time to go over the edge.

"What?!" Asked the human who hadn't realized they'd been perched right upon the brink of the sheer drop. Distracted as he had been with the snake snack, scales and all, as it went down smooth.

It is alright. Venom insisted as he unstuck their claws from where Eddie had suddenly shoved them into the ground. In terror. You can close your eyes this time. So Venom held in a sigh as his human did just that.
After all, he had said it was alright.

As he turned their body around and climbed it over the barren ledge, fighting against Eddie's hapless survival instincts every inch of the way, Venom let the rest of his face slip into place. Pleased when he could see perfectly even as he felt the eyelids under his bunch tighter against the feeling of hanging off the edge of the world by nothing but your claws.
Then, as he realized how few good handholds there were, and how many jagged edges were gonna want a piece of them, Venom slipped his entire hands out and started the long, long haul down. Bringing some clawed feet out to help with the footholds after one measly little slip nearly gave his on-board worrywart a heart attack.

After what had to have been half a lifetime of quick though careful crawling, Venom chanced a glance behind and down to check their progress.
Then had to grit his teeth to keep from cursing when he realized they were barely halfway to the ground. And that they weren't going to have a thing left of that snake in their system when this was done.

The injury from the botched squirrel hunt wasn't making any facet of the slow plummet of a journey easier either. In fact, Eddie was gritting his teeth tight enough for the both of them. All the stranded reporter could do to stop from yelping anytime Venom needed to fully extend their wrenched shoulder. And Venom needed to do that... frequently.
They were descending a cliff after all. Without a rope. Or a safety net.

Another factor justifiably causing the symbiote concern, was whatever had been attempting to kill its meal by smashing it on a rocky precipice.
It had an impressive screech and he hoped against hope that it didn't circle around and try to get the delicious snake back out of them. Because no part of that would be anywhere near pleasant.

Thankfully, the great bird's shadow only slid across their completely exposed, indefensible spread-eagle twice; nary a peep from its deadly, flesh rending beak as it searched for its lost meal.

Venom almost felt sorry for the stupid bird. Except for the fact that... he didn't. But he was grateful that it was seemingly intelligent enough not to mess with the four limbed mammal climbing around right under its hooked nose.
Even if they had eaten its legless lizard.

Less birdwatching; more climbing, Venom warned himself. The exact, unfortunate moment before their right claws missed a handhold and put the weight of nearly their entire body on their left arm. To which, the beleaguered thing threatened to dislocate itself a second time; the shoulder slipping minutely out and then back into joint as Venom scrambled successfully for that accursed crag he'd been aiming for.

What surprised the supernatural rock climber even more than having missed a step at all, was the fact that the very near reinjury hadn't wrung a noise of pain from his host. Instead, Eddie'd just gritted his teeth harder and forced himself to breathe.

At least they were past the halfway point, Venom told himself even as he knew he couldn't slow their pace nor afford to favor the shoulder. Not if he wanted to keep them alive.
Which he did. Rather desperately.

Another age later, as he felt the energy the miracle of a meal had bestowed upon them waning, Venom chanced another glance earthward. Then sighed at the sight of a countless number of trees welcoming them from barely below.

They'd made the canopy. From there, it was practically home free.

When they finally, finally touched bottom and stumbled away from that absolute trial of a natural wall, Venom remained silent as he pulled his face and the rock climbing claws back under their skin and his human sank flat to the ground in exhaustion.

He felt the way Eddie's lungs where burning and knew every one of his host's undernourished muscles were either threatening to cramp and never uncramp, on fire, or had been absolutely numbed by the experience. By the sheer exertion it had taken to climb down a cliff face as stark and featureless and impossibly tall as the one Eddie hadn't opened his eyes on.

Even now, Eddie's eyes were only half open as he lay there, panting, sweating, and shaking in that way that a limb might if you asked more of it than it was prepared to do. Just as Venom had of their body.
Of Eddie.

But, if it got them that much closer to 'civilization', and a proper meal, then there hadn't been any other choice.

That's what Venom told himself as his human curled in on their battered and abused body and whimpered quietly. Good arm laying protective and leaden over the pounding, pulsing, pain of their damaged and nearly redamaged arm. Which was still working well enough that repairing it further, without a big meal in sight... could very well cost them their lives. But which was now swollen and angry enough that using it —for anything— was a terrible idea.

Still, it had been the only route available to them, and Venom was sure- something about this direction was telling him they'd be safe if they just kept moving.

Something he couldn't ask of his human then. Not while Eddie hadn't complained the whole way down; either scared silent or concentrating all of his energy on ignoring the protests of his screaming muscles so as not to interrupt Venom's concentration.
More likely both.

No, he deserved a rest after that.

And so, laying in the cool grass at the bottom of that cliff face, the shade of nearby trees keeping the sun off them, Venom soon found himself wishing he'd never learned what guilt was. Because, when he felt their chest spasm, and heard that first wracked, desperate sob, guilt was all the symbiote could feel.

He didn't like the feeling. Not one bit.

The fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it he liked even less.

And there really was nothing he could do. Not unless he ate one of the organs still overcrowding his host's-
No. He wasn't going to think about that. It wouldn't help anyway. Losing an organ wouldn't help them move any faster and, even though he didn't have the resources with which to heal... anything, Eddie was a resilient human. He'd scrape himself off the grass covered forest floor and keep them moving forward. Venom knew he would. Knew it. Wouldn't doubt it for a second.

But when he felt the first tears slide out of his friend's eyes... he wished that Eddie didn't have to.

If only they had more food.

Then he wouldn't have to huddle there, dormant and useless, as his- his Eddie broke down. In a way Venom had never seen him nor any other human do.
Or, if he had seen it, on tv or in a theater, he'd never felt it before. Never felt the kind of hopelessness a week of fruitless desperation mixed with deprivation and a heaping spoonful of terror for their lives could stir up.
Add to that a shoulder they couldn't afford to use anymore and...

Was this- all of this- the entire predicament, Venom's fault? The symbiote shuddered when the thought hit him.
Had Eddie been right when he'd said none of this would've happened if he'd just been a good symbiote and let his reporter sit across the aisle from a known- infamous gunrunner? All prim and professional, taking down notes as she told him things that she'd never allowed an ear outside her inner circle hear.
And live to tell the tale.

As her bodyguards continually thumbed their weapon's safety on and off in a way that was absolutely meant to be intimidating but just plain ticked Venom off.
No one was allowed to threaten his Eddie.

So, really, everyone in that plane had deserved to die a fiery death. Full stop. But Eddie didn't deserve to suffer out here like this. Curled up on the grass, crying his eyes out and rightfully shaken to the deepest parts of himself by all that had happened to them since they'd boarded that flying metal death trap.

Yeah. This was Venom's fault alright. But acknowledging it didn't mean he was any closer to being able to do anything about it.

So, he forced the self recrimination to a standstill and instead focused on the here and now.
Eddie needed him. Even if he was absolutely useless at the moment.
He had to at least try to do something.

Maybe he could be... comforting? He could try comforting.

With that in mind, Venom thrummed from his place in his human's aching chest, just enough to remind him that he was there, and focused on reaching through that absolute quagmire of grief and pain with something far more befitting his Eddie's mind.

Feeling that spoken words would somehow be... insufficient, the symbiote communicated as loudly as he could thoughts of the good times they'd had together, back in their San Francisco stomping grounds, and made promises of more to come. Promises of pain subsiding and joy returning to their sorry existence.

You and me = safe

Eddie + Venom = home

He couldn't stress it enough. Especially not when he felt their chest spasm and received a mental response; crude and disjointed, but far more than Eddie'd once been capable of.

'Trapped. Like rats. Die. Like jerky.'

Not sure how jerked meats related to their situation, but pretty sure he got the idea, Venom gentled at the shuddering mind and insisted once more:

You and me = team

Eddie + Venom = hope

Venom + Eddie =

Love

...The single spoken word quieted all sound. Quieted the maelstrom of futility and anguish that had been flailing in their head. It even seemed to ease some of the agony from their poor, overused and abused body.
And when Eddie next opened their mouth, it wasn't a sob that broke the silence. It was a promise.

"I love you too."

To that, all Venom could do was glow. Or, that's what it felt like anyway. Like their was an industrial strength incandescent lightbulb inside him and Eddie'd just flicked the on switch.
Felt unnatural. But far more so, it felt good.
So he'd start worrying about it when it started disintegrating him from the inside out. Until then, he was just gonna enjoy it.

Because love?

Venom could get used to that.

He hoped though, that he never got the opportunity to grow used to the way Eddie ended up crying himself to sleep. An utter emotional and physical wreck, in need of far more than he or this forest were able to provide.
This forest that had tried to break them in every way it knew how.

Well, joke's on you, Forest, Venom thought as their breathing flattened to that of those in the throes of exhausted sleep, because, though they may have been no more than a hair's breadth from death by exposure, the two of them were somehow, impossibly, closer than ever.

And if they did end up dying out there, far from home and everything they knew, at least they'd be doing it with each other.
And that was worlds better than the alternative.

Can it get worse from here? Maybe we shouldn't ask that question.