She was already on the plane to San Francisco. With three long hours of flight ahead of her, she continued to stare out the window at the clouds below. Never in her life would she have expected a letter if the time had come, and it would never have occurred to her to be present at this undertaking. However, other circumstances prompted her to comply with the request and visit him. The FBI had asked her because it was the last chance they might get some more information from him. For a long time she had tried to suppress it, without success. She was still haunted by those nightmares. That's why she hoped that this would finally be a conclusion.

When she picked up her suitcase at the airport and walked towards the exit, she already noticed the consequences of the time difference. It was late in the evening at home, just noon here.

The FBI had organized everything at short notice, so she didn't have to worry about anything and was driven to the hotel without any problems. It was in the middle of the city and promised a great view. She checked in and took the elevator upstairs. When she opened the door with the card, it almost took her breath away.

This prospect was tremendous. For a moment, that made her forget why she was here in the first place, but her ringing cell phone brought her back to the here and now.

She silenced it, picked up her suitcase and began to unpack. She didn't have much with her, so it didn't take her long to put everything away. The room itself was quite small. It consisted of a room with a double bed and a kind of hallway, which also contained the door to the bathroom.

When she finished unpacking, she pinned her hair up. Her visit was due tomorrow, but the FBI had asked to meet her at the police station today. So she left the room and started walking.

Arriving at the station, she was asked to be seated in a room normally used for interrogations. After a while the door opened and a Detective Mulligan walked in. He was a bit shorter than expected, but dressed like in any classic Hollywood film: tucked-in blue shirt, suspenders, and a gun at the ready.

»Are you Alex Snow?« She nodded.

»Sorry for the inconvenience. I had to clarify something.«

»No problem.«

»I'm here to take care of everything that concerns Cletus Kasady. Someone will pick you up at your hotel at nine tomorrow morning and drive you straight to the San Quentin. Then you'll have half an hour to talk to him. I'm asking you to try everything possible so that he might still talk. Some relatives of the victims will be present at the execution and the press is not exactly kind to us. So it would be very gratifying to get at least a few more clues, so that we can perhaps still solve one or the other case.«

There was something in his eyes that surprised her: pity. So he knew.

»I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best«, she tried to make it sound as convincing as she could.

»That's nice to hear. If you have no further questions, I would accompany you outside now. Someone will drive you back to the hotel.« He smiled, but she could see in his eyes that he wasn't serious and that his judgment had already been passed.

»Thanks, but I'd rather walk back. I'd like to see more of the city«, she said, not wanting to cause any more inconvenience.

On the way to the hotel, she already noticed how late it had become. She bought some food from a fast food chain, which she took to the hotel. On the way, she passed a small shop with newspapers. She stopped in surprise and looked at a certain one and without further ado decided to buy it.

Arriving at the hotel, she put the food on a small table, took the newspaper and sat on the bed. She had never been particularly interested in such things, but it was one article in particular that had caught her attention: "The Hidden Victims of Cletus Kasady," written by Eddie Brock.

Said one stayed in his apartment with his symbiote. They sat together on the couch watching the Netflix series Making a Murderer. Venom had manifested in his snake form and now turned his gaze to Eddie, who was completely absorbed in the episode.

»Things went pretty well today with the lawyers.«

»Jeeep.«

»And you're sure you really want to do that tomorrow?« Venom gave him a skeptical look.

»Yes absolutely.«

»Then we'll do that, but then we'll also do something for me tonight.«

»What exactly do you mean?« Eddie knew what was coming. Venom smiled gleefully and licked his razor-sharp fangs.

»We're hungry again and we're almost out of chocolate, so you can take your pick: buy more chocolate with your money, or the much better option: hunt down criminals and eat bad guys.«

He emphasized the last word in particular, so that a small shiver ran through Eddie's body. Eddie didn't like the look in Venom's eyes at all. He hated it when Venom ate people. Because they shared everything with each other, so Eddie felt everything too... and tasted everything. That's why he quickly decided on option A.

»No one will be eaten today.«

»But you said I could eat bad guys!«

»Yes, but as long as the Life Foundation is still keeping an eye on us and the police are still investigating, no one will be eaten. In addition, chocolate also contains this phenylethylamine. And we still have those two, just in case.« Eddie pointed to the chickens.

»There's no way Sonny and Cher will get eaten. They are best friends.«

»That's ridiculous, that's why we have them!«

Venom didn't reply to that. Instead, he made Eddie stand up, who almost lost his balance awkwardly with shock.

»Can you please stop?«

»Nope.« Venom grinned and used his long tentacles to grab the house keys, Eddie's jacket and drag him to the door.

»What do you want to do outside late at night?«

»Buy chocolate.«

And so, Eddie, more reluctantly, went to Mrs. Chen's store a few blocks away. She was one of the few people who knew of Venom's existence. That's why they could buy masses of chocolate undisturbed there without being looked at askance. But today Eddie shouldn't feel so safe that nobody would be eaten, because they were protecting the lady and her small shop and had already slipped off a protection money extortionist in the process. When people were in immediate danger, Eddie couldn't deny that those bad guys had to be eaten.

They entered the small supermarket and were both greeted by Mrs. Chen, who was busy putting the chocolates on the shelves. She had apparently received a new shipment, and Eddie could tell how pleased the Klyntar was.

He grabbed some bars and also took a few other things that had run out at home. Venom's much-loved croquettes, for example. He went to the cash register, paid for everything and left the store.

On the way back he realized it was late. Hardly anyone was still on the streets. As they passed a small side alley, he heard unusual noises that were quickly stifled. Eddie stopped and looked down the alley. He had a bad feeling, so he took slow steps in the direction of where the sound was coming from. In the past he would have been scared in a situation like this, after all, robberies happened every now and then... or worse. But now Venom was with him, who would always help him in such situations.

As he peeked around the corner of the house, he saw two hooded men trying to drag a woman into a van. He felt the turmoil in his own body and immediately let go of the bag of their groceries.

Venom emerged and Eddie completely disappeared into his body. He stepped in and, with one arm or tentacle at a time, he picked up one of the men and made them wriggle.

»What the hell is that?!«, came out of one of them. He raised his gun and fired, but the bullets didn't bother Venom much, just made him angrier. The man should have changed his mind, because now he was hanging directly over the wide open mouth and an overly long tongue was coming his way. The woman just stood in the corner in shock and watched everything.

»Eat him«, was Eddie's thought.

Under other circumstances he would have warned Venom not to eat him, but he didn't understand the fun of kidnapping either. Venom made short work of it and ate the man. However, when the second saw what was about to happen to him, he aimed his gun at the woman, who let out a short scream. But Venom was faster and snatched it from him with his free hand, eventually devouring him as well.

The woman stood there in shock and didn't move an inch. Venom turned and left. He then retreated back into Eddie's body, who grabbed her bag again and the two leisurely strolled home.