Chapter 1

San Francisco, California, USA

2:02 am

2 hours and 14 minutes later...

(Y/n) had made it to San Francisco, her tired, swollen eyes stared at the lights of the skyscrapers in the far distance as she made her way toward it. She'd have to stop somewhere and get rid of her car otherwise it wouldn't be long until they would track her down from her registration plate and CCTV footage. Sure, you may deem her stupid to literally drive somewhere in her own car after being found in a crime scene and to get away from police but (Y/n) wasn't planning on keeping it anyway, and once she was far enough away, she would dump it and get herself the money she needed and she would move on from San Francisco in less than 24 hours, most likely. If the plan went smoothly that is.

The best place she could go to hide out would be Chinatown. There, she could lay low for a bit without running into other nosy Americans and there were good little hiding areas she could stow away into when the police came a-knocking. She took the very first exit, knowing that she could take that route to get to Chinatown but first she had to find somewhere where she could put the car and she ended up spending another half an hour to find somewhere to hide it. It was under the highway bridge, tucked behind a pillar. The area was inhabited with a few homeless people who watched her curiously but didn't approach or question her. She proceeded to get her backpack out before moving to the back of the car to check for anything else. In the boot/trunk, she found an old blanket she usually kept in there for emergencies or picnics with friends, however the latter would definitely not be happening ever again. She snatched it up, stuffing it into her bag before slamming the door shut. She moved around to exit the creepy area when a voice called to her.

"Don't leave that car there! This is our area!" An old homeless man shouted, making the girl roll her eyes. She was too tired and shaken up to talk to anyone and so she turned back to the car, brandishing her key, nestling it in her knuckle, approaching a tyre before puncturing it. The action earned odd looks from the bridge's residents as she continued to go around the car, piercing holes into her own tyres. She proceeded to open all the doors. She flapped her arms towards it.

"There. My gift to you. Share it." she said monotonously before turning around and walking away, down the road and heading in the direction of Chinatown. It only took about 10 minutes maybe and she was wandering the streets. Most of the shops were closed which was understandable since it was practically early in the morning. She slowly strolled passed each alleyway, not having much luck in getting a free one. She didn't make it obvious she was looking, her eyes glancing down each one before moving on. Once she finally did though, she smiled weakly before making her way down it and finding a clear space behind a dumpster. Of course, it was rather filthy but it would have to do if she was now going to live the temporary life of a criminal, she would need to deal with the little luxury she could get. With her backpack used as a pillow, she leaned back against the corner of the dumpster and the wall, getting comfy before wrapping the blanket over body. She was pleased to say it did a good job at keeping her warm and due to exhaustion and shock, she fell into a deep, blissful sleep in a matter of seconds.

It was the sun that woke up the young woman the following day. She had slept through the morning to around midday. The blazing sun was now directly above her alleyway and shining onto her closed eyes, her brain slowly beginning to register the bright light through her eyelids. (Y/n)'s eyes opened gradually, squinting at the harsh light and covering her face. She groaned out, leaning her head toward the wall before deciding to sit up reluctantly. She had things she needed to do, so she had better get up quickly. She was pleased that no one had robbed her in the night and her backpack had everything in it. She glanced at the ring on her finger, that's what she needed to do today. A jewellery shop or pawnbrokers, anything really. However, she figured her best bet would be a jewellery shop, she could get a lot of money from this ring, and if she were to pawn it, she'd end up owing them money and that wasn't something she wanted to be worried about while she was on the run, so jewellery shop it was then.

After coming up with her plan, she packed up her blanket, fitting it into her backpack easily. She stood up to face the entrance of the alleyway where lots of people were going about their daily business. This was going to be extremely risky.

'Alright (Y/n). Head down and don't make eye contact with anyone!'

(Y/n) reminded herself, chanting the instructions in her head as best she could over the headache that was starting to brew from her head wound. Since she had been so tired, she had forgotten about the pain until now. She gently moved a hand to it and unfortunately, barely touching the area caused a sharp, stinging pain to cover that specific side of the head. She groaned in irritation. How was she going to sort that out? She couldn't go to the fucking hospital. She would just have to do it herself…. Well, keep it clean anyway until she has the resources to stitch herself up. Stuffing her hands in her pockets and keeping her head low, she strolled out of the alleyway, turning left out of it.

She remembered seeing a couple jewellery shops on her way into Chinatown and made sure to make a mental note of them.

It only took about 20 minutes to get to a shop (Y/n) deemed suitable for her to enter. It was much smaller than some of the jewellery shops she had visited and it wasn't extremely populated with people, so it could be a quick in and out, hopefully. On the way, (Y/n) had also bought a face mask, just to be on the safe side.

(Y/n) entered the shop, eyeing all the rings, necklaces and earrings that were on display. Different jewels decorated them, making (Y/n)'s eyes shine in interest. She liked admiring pretty things however before she could look any longer, a voice gained her attention.

"Hi!"

She cast her gaze at the shop's worker. A girl in her early 20's maybe, smiled at her new customer, clearly not recognising her thanks to the mask. (Y/e/c) eyes watched her warily before approaching her.

"Hello," she mumbled but it was loud enough for the girl to hear.

"What can I do for you today, ma'am? Are you looking to buy something?" (Y/n) slowly shook her head.

"No, I was actually hoping to sell something to you,"

"Oh okay, well what have you got for me?" the girl smiled, waiting for (Y/n) to present the product she wanted to sell. The 26 year old glanced at her hand, her heart ached. She really didn't want to sell it but this was her only hope and so she pulled it off her finger before passing it to the girl who gently took it from her with curious eyes. It was quiet for a moment as the girl inspected the trinket with narrowed eyes as she analysed it. "How long have you had it?" she asked.

"This will be the third generation," (Y/n) replied, not entirely sure what that had to do with anything but the girl seemed to be impressed by that answer. "Why?"

"The third generation you say? And it looks this good, your family must have taken very good care of it," the older woman nodded.

"It was my grandmother's pride and joy. My grandfather used all his savings on it just for her," hearing the sweet story, the girl smiled endearingly.

"That's sweet but if it's an heirloom, why are you selling it?"

'This one's… curious'

The (y/h/n) thought to herself, finding that the question irked her a bit. However, she calmed her annoyance, not wanting to seem suspicious by lashing out.

"Um.. well, I'm in desperate need of money at the moment. This was my last and only option. It's not an idea I'm pleased about but I hope to get it back again, if I'm lucky that is," the young girl eyed the older woman, feeling some sort of sympathy for her customer.

"Well since this is a 4 carat Sapphire in brilliant condition, I can give you about $18,000," hearing the figure, made the (Y/h/c) haired woman's eyes widen in complete shock.

"$18,000, did you say?" the brunette nodded.

"I can check though, if you'd like. My manager is a lot better at this than me," the girl chuckled, seemingly embarrassed. (Y/n) blinked before nodding.

"If you don't mind, not that I don't trust your judgment. It's just an awful lot of money and I think that's more than enough for me to take," the young woman nodded before disappearing through a doorway with the ring making (Y/n) swallow thickly as she anxiously looked around outside. The girl soon came back with her manager in tow, a look of surprise on his face too.

"My employee appears to be correct, would you still like to sell?"

"Yes please, could I have it in cash?"

"Of course, let me go get you the money," he said, going back through the door. While he was busy sorting that out, the brunette decided to try a bit of small talk.

"Did you hear about what happened last night?" (Y/n) hesitated to answer but shook her head making the young girl scoff as she placed a hand on her chest.

"Some psychotic bitch murdered three children and now the coward is on the run," she said, a hostile tone mixed in with her voice. "If I ever saw that woman, I'd kill her myself. Apparently she was babysitting them too! What kind of crackhead does that?!" The 26 year old only stood and listened to the worker rant to her about her. Hearing the hateful things she was saying was deeply upsetting for the wanted woman but of course she couldn't say anything, she couldn't hold any ill will toward this girl after all, she doesn't even know what happened or the fact the woman the police were looking for was right in front of her.

"That's awful, you've got to be a whole different kind of lunatic to do something as heinous as that!" (Y/n) forced herself to say, as much as she wanted to defend herself, it really wouldn't be a good idea. Finally, the manager came in with four wads of cash. One mustard band, one brown band, a violet band and then finally, a yellow band.

"Here you go then, Miss. Thank you so much for your ring," the old man smiled and the woman gave him a single nod.

"Thank you," she said as she gathered up the wads before placing them in her backpack, the other two watching as she did so and exited the shop. She let herself take a moment to breathe and calm her nerves, she could now move on somewhere else, however she needed to wait a moment, get an idea of where she stood in regards to the police. She needed to see if they definitely knew where she was and just gather some intel all in all. For now, she planned to hide out somewhere to avoid crowded areas since it was still daytime and anyone could recognise her if she wasn't careful enough, so she chose the safer option. Her best bet where there wouldn't be many people would be near the docks and so she headed to that area and spent the rest of her day there.

18:26 pm

When (Y/n) awoke from her nap, the sky was beginning to darken and there was a bitterness about the air that made her shiver as she snuggled into her blanket. It seemed tonight was going to be a cold one which didn't please the young woman too much. She was just thankful she had some things that could keep, something else which could warm her up could be hot chocolate and maybe something to eat. She had remembered passing a convenience store on the way to the jewellery shop so she figured she would pop there for a visit. The day had been successfully boring and hectic free, thanks to her smart decision.

The walk took around 10 minutes and when she entered the store, a bell dinged to signal her presence. The store was empty at the moment, minus the store clerk who had been busy reading a magazine and had lifted her head to greet her new customer. (Y/n) simply waved at her as she looked around the shop until her eyes landed on an area where it looked like she could get warm food. She approached it and sure enough, there was food in the containers being kept heated. The clerk noticed the woman eyeing up the food and made her way over.

"What would you like, ma'am?" she asked.

"Could I get a hot dog and… do you do hot chocolates too?" the (Y/h/c) asked, feeling her stomach ache from hunger as she eyed the food eagerly. The elderly woman nodded and began sorting out (Y/n)'s meal while (Y/n) looked around the rest of the store to see if there was anything else she could get. The store's bell rang again, indicating a second customer. The young woman snapped her head toward them to find it was a man, he was rather tall and broad shouldered.

"Hi, Mrs Chen,"

"Hey, Eddie, how are you?"

"Good, good, do you have chocolate in now?"

"I do,"

"Great!" he grinned before moving beside the young woman who was also looking at the confectionery section, her eyes now focused on the shelves but she wasn't really looking at the chocolate. She didn't like how close he was even though she had the mask on. She glanced at him from behind the side of the hood and her (Y/e/c) eyes widened in shock when his brown eyes caught hers. She quickly looked away before stiffly making her way down the aisle to look at something else.

Eddie watched the stranger move away as soon as they made eye contact. Her behaviour was odd. She almost seemed scared when they looked at one another, surely he wasn't that scary looking, right?

Of course you're scary, look at you. You're hideous.

Hearing Venom's voice made the reporter roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Do you want tater tots and chocolate or not?" He challenged, putting the bar that he was holding back down.

No wait! I want my chocolate and tater tots!

"Then be nice to your host, please?" he warned the Symbiote who grumbled in response.

"Ma'am, your order is ready!" Mrs Chen called out to the customer. Eddie watched the woman walk over to the counter with curious eyes as he pretended to look at the chip section. He observed the two converse, the woman giving Mrs Chen the money she needed before the store owner moved back behind the main counter. Eddie proceeded to watch the stranger.

She seems off to me.

The reporter only hummed in response as the hooded woman coated her hotdog with ketchup before pulling down her mask and in that moment, Eddie's heart nearly stopped when he recognised those features. It was the same woman who was on the TV the night before. The same woman who had killed those children in cold blood.

It's HER! It's that crazy bitch from the news!

Venom yelled in both excitement and anger. What were the odds that this wanted criminal would fall right into his clutches? Her insides were calling out to him. Oh, he couldn't wait to wrap his mouth around that pretty little head and chomp it right off its neck.

As the woman finished chewing, her eyes opened to get ready to take another bite when she saw Eddie glaring at her. Her heart went to her throat when she realised she had been caught. Judging from his expression, he knew exactly who she was and he was NOT happy. The woman Eddie now knew as being the killer, (Y/n), pulled her mask up and quickly picked up her things and headed straight for the door. Eddie moved forward to watch, if she looked back, he was sure that he had seen right and he would go after her. And she did, right as the door closed she glanced back and Eddie didn't hesitate to follow. She had taken a left and unfortunately/ fortunately for her, it wasn't that busy, however for the reporter it was a huge advantage. He kept a few steps behind her, he didn't want her running off, not that he would have to worry since Venom would be able to catch up to her with ease.

(Y/n) felt like she might faint any minute from how fast her heart was beating, this was not good. Someone had seen her again and the look in his eyes scared her. The hatred she saw in them stemmed from a lie and it frustrated her but she had to get away. She expected him to call the police as soon as he saw her but when she glanced back, he began following her which struck even more fear in her heart. She had to lose him quickly, maybe she could in a crowd? However, when she exited the shop, it was pretty much looking like a ghost town. In a panic, (Y/n) just headed in the direction of her temporary hideout, maybe she could lose him on the way there somehow.

Once she made it back, she quickly moved around the corner and pressed her back to the wall, sighing out before peering to see if her follower was still in close pursuit, however he wasn't there. She found it strange that he would've stopped unless he remembered she was a 'killer' and didn't want to risk her hurting him and so stopped to call the police? Regardless, she was sure she was in the clear. As she went to take a step into the alleyway with a slight sense of achievement, she was quickly stopped by something hard, like a wall and she fell back on to her backside due to the sudden block and dropped her food and drink, the hot chocolate spilling onto the alley floor and some on her hand. She hissed when the hot liquid touched her hand and she glared harshly at the person who she walked into, however as soon as she saw the culprit, her face instantly paled and her (Y/e/c) eyes widened in unimaginable terror.

In front of her stood a hulking figure that stood to maybe about 7 feet. They were completely black with glossy white eyes that covered most of its head while its grin showed about a dozen sharp teeth. Whatever it was its skin was strange, it looked like it was moving slightly and there was something viscous like about.

Before (Y/n) could even scream out, a clawed hand reached for her and grabbed her by the throat, immediately cutting off her voice and making her let out a strangled noise. It lifted her so they were face to face, her feet dangling and kicking while her hand pried at the giant hand in a sad attempt to get free from its tight grip. With its other hand it ripped off the hood that obscured (Y/n)'s face, now seeing that it was actually who they had been looking for, it sneered at her.

I think I should make your death slow and painful. That sounds justifiable for a child killer.

The creature's voice was deep and there was a hint of enjoyment in its tone.

Or I could just bite that pretty little head off in one bite, I don't think I'll be able to eat you slowly. I've waited too long!

The woman could only stare in horror at what it was saying, not fully understanding what it meant or more likely not wanting to believe this was all real. In an attempt to prolong her death, she tried to speak.

"W-wait. What a-are you?" she strained out, making the creature tilt its head before half of it pulled away to reveal a man underneath.

We are Venom.

They said simultaneously. It was like armour but (Y/n) wasn't bothered by that at the moment. She was in a state of shock, because the man that she was seeing was the exact same man who had been following her minutes prior. The man smiled eerily when he realised that she recognised him before Venom slithered back over his face and concealed him fully in the armour once again. When the creature began to open its mouth wide, did (Y/n) snap out of her trance. This time she was more frantic and kicked and struggled harder.

"Wait! Wait!" she called out as loudly as she could, holding a hand out to gain its attention. 'Venom' closed its mouth, sighing at the infuriating human who he just wanted to eat already and waited for her to speak again. "If you eat me, you would have done it for nothing. Not only that, you'll be killing an innocent person." she quickly explained herself, making the giant thing look at her in confusion before it turned into a sneer and threw her down the alley way.

Coward!

He roared as the side of her head collided with the brick wall and searing hot pain ran throughout her head, neck and shoulders and her hands went straight to the back of it, cupping the wound there as she cried out in agony, again making Venom eye her with curiosity. Her noises of distress seemed to concern it, for a killer, she sure was emotionally sensitive although it wasn't sure if this was actually how a killer would usually act. It watched as she brought her hands back down to reveal they were covered in blood.

"Shit. You reopened it." the woman murmured but it heard her. She made an attempt to stand up but only ended up crumpling back down into a sitting position. "I - I didn't do it. I woke u-up s-seconds-," she huffed out, struggling to stay conscious, the pain in her head wasn't going away and she felt the hot blood dribble through her hair and down her neck. She moaned out, frustrated that she suddenly couldn't even talk. Sensing something wasn't right, Eddie called Venom back as he strode over to the wounded woman, changing back to the reporter who caught the woman before she fell to the floor. She was unconscious now and Eddie sighed as he hugged her close. He gently moved her hair to reveal the gnarly gash that was hidden away and grimaced. That didn't look good at all.

With the reluctant help of Venom, Eddie managed to get the woman back to his apartment where he pressed gauze upon gauze and tissue upon tissue to her wound to stop the bleeding. All in all, it took about 20 minutes for it to stop completely and now he had a potential killer sleeping on his sofa.

What the HELL are you doing, Eddie?! She's a killer, why am I not eating her!

"Did you not hear what she said before she passed out?"

Yes! Of course I did.

"Well then we give her the benefit of the doubt. She said she didn't do it, now we let her explain that,"

But Eddie, I haven't eaten a brain in-

"Venom, if it turns out she was actually innocent, I don't really want her blood on my hands," Venom only sighed in response, Eddie knew the only reason why it was moody was because it didn't get the meal it was hoping for but the reporter knew he couldn't let what she said go. He needed to find out what she was up to.