p class="MsoNormal"strongA/N: These are snapshots, moments in time inspired by emVenom: Let There Be Carnage/em./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie shivers. Sneezing, he turns over in a fitful sleep, trying in vain to pull his threadbare, too-small blanket over his feet and head./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom, hidden within like a suppressed memory, springs forth to warm Eddie, just briefly. They are weak, weak after the last fight with Carnage. The wounds have healed, but they spent all their strength on staying alive./p
p class="MsoNormal"Now, Eddie was sick. He was poor. He was alone. Alone, except for Venom./p
p class="MsoNormal""Sleep," Venom whispers without speaking, smoothing his rough voice as much as possible./p
p class="MsoNormal"The warmth spreads through their limbs for a brief second, a wave of comfort almost as perfect as emher/em embrace./p
p class="MsoNormal"But they didn't talk about her anymore./p
p class="MsoNormal"The warmth fades, and Eddie shivers once more. Venom recoils, exhaustion settling over them once more./p
p class="MsoNormal"They are the only ones in the world, Eddie and Venom. Together, they can make it work./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"***/p
p class="MsoNormal"Tears streak Eddie's face as he leaves the restaurant, motorcycle helmet in hand. His cheeks burn almost as much as they had after the lobster incident. But this was different. This was hurt. This was emalone/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"A breakup. It had never been this bad. Before, it had always been like peeling off a Band-Aid. One and done. Not this, though. This was a series of surgeries tenderly removing his heart until he no longer had one, until he was the husk of the man he had been before. Before emher/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie throws a leg over his motorcycle and drives drives drives. Away./p
p class="MsoNormal"The restaurant is gone soon, but the tears remain. The tears and the rain./p
p class="MsoNormal"What else is there without her?/p
p class="MsoNormal""Watch the road," Venom warns as they swerve to the left, a distant car's headlights two stars coming to collide with them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ellie glides ahead, a sparrow in a hurricane of his tears. The stars come closer./p
p class="MsoNormal""Eddie. Eddie!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't wanna do this anymore," Eddie confesses weakly. He lets go of the handles. The motorcycles drifts farther to the left./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stop this nonsense," Venom spits./p
p class="MsoNormal""You can heal anything." Eddie closes his eyes and relaxes his muscles. "Anything but this heartbreak."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The car honks in silence. The rain rings. The wind cries alone./p
p class="MsoNormal""Eddie!" Venom emerges, crawls down Eddie's arms, swerves the motorcycle./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie doesn't feel his leg break when the motorcycle skids across the grass on its side. He doesn't feel his helmet fly off or his head and back striking trees until he rolls to a stop./p
p class="MsoNormal"He stares up, eyes dead, rain dotting the orbs, unblinking./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom forms his head over Eddie's shoulder. Distantly, Eddie feels the sensation of a worried mother standing over him, checking him for injuries after a bicycle accident./p
p class="MsoNormal"emFunny/em, Eddie thinks. emI never had a mom. I killed her too/em./p
p class="MsoNormal""What were you thinking?" Venom demands. "You could have died!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The silence is his answer. It lasts for a while, and Eddie glances at the car, now stopped about fifty feet away./p
p class="MsoNormal""Why?" Venom croaks, a sound of utter lostness, desperation, loyalty./p
p class="MsoNormal"emI have no one else, /emthat voice saidem. You're all I have/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"All the classics: "Where you go, I go." "If you die, I die."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry," Eddie murmurs, his lips moving without his knowing./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom snaps, "Do not say that." He pauses, considering all that he has learned in his time on Earth. "Humans are delicate, your heads . . . squishy. Your hearts too. But squishy things go back into place. Your heart will go back to how it was before. For now, you can hurt, but you will hurt with me. We will get through this, Eddie."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie wipes fresh tears from his eyes. "Okay," he says finally, moving to stand and at last noticing his fractured leg. "Oh, shit!" he groans./p
p class="MsoNormal""I can heal that," Venom says softly, and he goes to work, healing Eddie one heartstring at a time./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"***/p
p class="MsoNormal"A breakup. That's how other people would describe it./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie scoffs. This was an alien symbiote, not a partner./p
p class="MsoNormal"Still, the apartment felt a little too clean. His head too quiet./p
p class="MsoNormal"The damn chickens too loud./p
p class="MsoNormal"Especially just before they shit on the floor./p
p class="MsoNormal""Shit!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie stood and stared at the fresh crap on his sock, the guilty party clucking happily as she left the scene of the crime./p
p class="MsoNormal""Either we're going to have chicken nuggets tonight, or—"/p
p class="MsoNormal"He remembers with a start that it is no longer "we."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I wonder if they make chicken diapers," he remarks, trying to take his mind off Venom./p
p class="MsoNormal"He reaches for a paper towel when the door breaks open./p
p class="MsoNormal"Instinctively, he empties his mind, ready for Venom to take charge./p
p class="MsoNormal"But of course, he doesn't. There is nothing. No one./p
p class="MsoNormal"No one but Cletus Kasady in the doorway wearing what had to be a stolen suit, his striking red hair brushed back./p
p class="MsoNormal""Why hello, Eddie!" he exclaims cheerfully, a wide smile cutting his face in two. "I've been looking for you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie's heart gallops. This man wants him dead. He doesn't have Venom. He doesn't have anyone./p
p class="MsoNormal""What do you want with me?" Eddie asks, but he already knows the answer. This is emSilence of the Lambs /emall over again, but this time, the serial killer partner wants emhim/em dead./p
p class="MsoNormal""Just a chat." Cletus starts to seat himself on Eddie's sofa before noting the chicken shit covering the top. "Damn. Maybe emyou're/em the crazy one." He chuckles at that before sitting down anyway, sweeping the refuse aside with his bare hand./p
p class="MsoNormal"The dry chunks clink on the floor, scratched by Venom's frequent tantrums./p
p class="MsoNormal""So . . ." Cletus starts, staring at the cardboard sign on the wall. " 'No eating people.' Either you have some very emnasty/em chickens here, or you and I share something else in common." His lips curl, and he lifts a hand. Blood red tendrils creep out, and Eddie's heart stops./p
p class="MsoNormal"emAnother symbiote?/em/p
p class="MsoNormal""H-how?" Eddie sputters, but he already knows. Though the bite mark is long gone, the memory is stark in his mind./p
p class="MsoNormal""The better question, always, is emwhy/em, Eddie. Why are we all born, we tragic hell-bound fishes? Then why wish to die?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie cautiously sits down on a chair at his small dinner table. "I'm sure you didn't come here to spout poetry."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No," Cletus muses. "I came here to remember the good ol' times." He scratches his chin. "Although now that I think about it, there were none. Not for me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Stop with the sob story. Either kill me or leave."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Tell me about this thing, then." Cletus raises his hand, and a red, clawed hand materializes, so familiar, and yet so strange. It's like looking into a dark mirror./p
p class="MsoNormal""It's an alien. You got it from me, but you shouldn't have it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Where's yours?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Gone."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Cletus burst out laughing, and Eddie only frowned. "You gave this up? Well, that makes this easier." He rises from the sofa, claws bared./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie rises as well, weaponless./p
p class="MsoNormal""You sent me to the chair. You figured it out with this thing." The tendrils rise in response, wicked blades meant only for killing. "I think it's quite poetic that I'll be killing you with this gift." He tilts his head, thinking. "Huh. I suppose I did come here for poetry after all."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He thrusts a hand out, and Eddie dives, just barely dodging the blade. He scrambles on hands and feet to the door, but another blade skewers it shut. He tries the knob, but the door must be jammed. There's nowhere to go./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie can only turn and watch, back against the door, as a third blade races toward him, slides into his right shoulder. He screams, and another impales his right leg./p
p class="MsoNormal"emI'm like a fucking insect pinned to a fucking frame/em, he thinks numbly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Another blade impales his stomach. Blinded by pain, he can only lift his head for a blurry image of Cletus standing over him, grinning with an alien smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"And then, everything goes dark./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom is weak from jumping from host to host. None are a match. He is alone. His only choice is to go to the drug store. Find some chocolate. Anywhere, anyone but Eddie./p
p class="MsoNormal"He passes a building with the breaking news beaming from its side./p
p class="MsoNormal""Cletus Kasady, infamous serial killer escaped. Armed and extremely dangerous."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He doesn't have the strength to worry about the fleshy almost-dead man right now. He just wishes he could have bitten his head off instead of a stupid chair doing the work./p
p class="MsoNormal"The sirens blast as he stumbles toward the store, sending his skin into a shock. He writhes in momentary pain until he sees that it's going to Eddie's apartment. The lights, blue red blue red blue red./p
p class="MsoNormal"Red./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom's eyes widen./p
p class="MsoNormal"emEddie/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"Who would Cletus go after first? Who else but the person responsible for sending him to his death?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom bursts into a run, his host's legs like jelly beneath him. There wasn't much time. Not for him or for Eddie./p
p class="MsoNormal"Visions of Eddie laying on the floor of his apartment haunt Venom, visions of a blood-soaked rug or empty eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal"emNot if I hurry./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emPlease, Eddie. Please be alive/em./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom catches a ride to the hospital on the ambulance using one of the EMT workers. This host is weak, and Venom was weak, and Eddie . . ./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie is barely breathing./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom is used to blood. Used to gunshots and getting stabbed and impaled and falling. But this is different. This is Eddie./p
p class="MsoNormal"The worst part is, Venom realizes he can't switch to Eddie just yet. They are both too weak. They would both die./p
p class="MsoNormal"Separate, at least, maybe one could . . ./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Anne arrives at the hospital soon after Eddie and Venom do./p
p class="MsoNormal"She cries, and Venom stays with her, using her as a host with her permission. He gets stronger with her, but it is still too early for him to try to help Eddie. They have to wait. Wait and trust humans./p
p class="MsoNormal"The lights flicker above them in a green-tiled hallway filled with the silence of dying./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal""He's going to make it," a doctor announces at two the next morning. Venom could almost hug him in relief. emAlmost/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"Instead, he listens attentively as Anne asks questions./p
p class="MsoNormal"emWhatever happens, /emVenom thoughtem, Cletus is going to pay/em./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie shivers. Sneezing, he turns over in a fitful sleep, trying in vain to pull his threadbare, too-small blanket over his feet and head./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom, hidden within like a suppressed memory, springs forth to warm Eddie, just briefly. They are weak, weak after the last fight with Carnage. The wounds have healed, but they spent all their strength on staying alive./p
p class="MsoNormal"Now, Eddie was sick. He was poor. He was alone. Alone, except for Venom./p
p class="MsoNormal""Sleep," Venom whispers without speaking, smoothing his rough voice as much as possible./p
p class="MsoNormal"The warmth spreads through their limbs for a brief second, a wave of comfort almost as perfect as emher/em embrace./p
p class="MsoNormal"But they didn't talk about her anymore./p
p class="MsoNormal"The warmth fades, and Eddie shivers once more. Venom recoils, exhaustion settling over them once more./p
p class="MsoNormal"They are the only ones in the world, Eddie and Venom. Together, they can make it work./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"***/p
p class="MsoNormal"Tears streak Eddie's face as he leaves the restaurant, motorcycle helmet in hand. His cheeks burn almost as much as they had after the lobster incident. But this was different. This was hurt. This was emalone/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"A breakup. It had never been this bad. Before, it had always been like peeling off a Band-Aid. One and done. Not this, though. This was a series of surgeries tenderly removing his heart until he no longer had one, until he was the husk of the man he had been before. Before emher/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie throws a leg over his motorcycle and drives drives drives. Away./p
p class="MsoNormal"The restaurant is gone soon, but the tears remain. The tears and the rain./p
p class="MsoNormal"What else is there without her?/p
p class="MsoNormal""Watch the road," Venom warns as they swerve to the left, a distant car's headlights two stars coming to collide with them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ellie glides ahead, a sparrow in a hurricane of his tears. The stars come closer./p
p class="MsoNormal""Eddie. Eddie!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't wanna do this anymore," Eddie confesses weakly. He lets go of the handles. The motorcycles drifts farther to the left./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stop this nonsense," Venom spits./p
p class="MsoNormal""You can heal anything." Eddie closes his eyes and relaxes his muscles. "Anything but this heartbreak."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The car honks in silence. The rain rings. The wind cries alone./p
p class="MsoNormal""Eddie!" Venom emerges, crawls down Eddie's arms, swerves the motorcycle./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie doesn't feel his leg break when the motorcycle skids across the grass on its side. He doesn't feel his helmet fly off or his head and back striking trees until he rolls to a stop./p
p class="MsoNormal"He stares up, eyes dead, rain dotting the orbs, unblinking./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom forms his head over Eddie's shoulder. Distantly, Eddie feels the sensation of a worried mother standing over him, checking him for injuries after a bicycle accident./p
p class="MsoNormal"emFunny/em, Eddie thinks. emI never had a mom. I killed her too/em./p
p class="MsoNormal""What were you thinking?" Venom demands. "You could have died!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The silence is his answer. It lasts for a while, and Eddie glances at the car, now stopped about fifty feet away./p
p class="MsoNormal""Why?" Venom croaks, a sound of utter lostness, desperation, loyalty./p
p class="MsoNormal"emI have no one else, /emthat voice saidem. You're all I have/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"All the classics: "Where you go, I go." "If you die, I die."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry," Eddie murmurs, his lips moving without his knowing./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom snaps, "Do not say that." He pauses, considering all that he has learned in his time on Earth. "Humans are delicate, your heads . . . squishy. Your hearts too. But squishy things go back into place. Your heart will go back to how it was before. For now, you can hurt, but you will hurt with me. We will get through this, Eddie."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie wipes fresh tears from his eyes. "Okay," he says finally, moving to stand and at last noticing his fractured leg. "Oh, shit!" he groans./p
p class="MsoNormal""I can heal that," Venom says softly, and he goes to work, healing Eddie one heartstring at a time./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"***/p
p class="MsoNormal"A breakup. That's how other people would describe it./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie scoffs. This was an alien symbiote, not a partner./p
p class="MsoNormal"Still, the apartment felt a little too clean. His head too quiet./p
p class="MsoNormal"The damn chickens too loud./p
p class="MsoNormal"Especially just before they shit on the floor./p
p class="MsoNormal""Shit!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie stood and stared at the fresh crap on his sock, the guilty party clucking happily as she left the scene of the crime./p
p class="MsoNormal""Either we're going to have chicken nuggets tonight, or—"/p
p class="MsoNormal"He remembers with a start that it is no longer "we."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I wonder if they make chicken diapers," he remarks, trying to take his mind off Venom./p
p class="MsoNormal"He reaches for a paper towel when the door breaks open./p
p class="MsoNormal"Instinctively, he empties his mind, ready for Venom to take charge./p
p class="MsoNormal"But of course, he doesn't. There is nothing. No one./p
p class="MsoNormal"No one but Cletus Kasady in the doorway wearing what had to be a stolen suit, his striking red hair brushed back./p
p class="MsoNormal""Why hello, Eddie!" he exclaims cheerfully, a wide smile cutting his face in two. "I've been looking for you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie's heart gallops. This man wants him dead. He doesn't have Venom. He doesn't have anyone./p
p class="MsoNormal""What do you want with me?" Eddie asks, but he already knows the answer. This is emSilence of the Lambs /emall over again, but this time, the serial killer partner wants emhim/em dead./p
p class="MsoNormal""Just a chat." Cletus starts to seat himself on Eddie's sofa before noting the chicken shit covering the top. "Damn. Maybe emyou're/em the crazy one." He chuckles at that before sitting down anyway, sweeping the refuse aside with his bare hand./p
p class="MsoNormal"The dry chunks clink on the floor, scratched by Venom's frequent tantrums./p
p class="MsoNormal""So . . ." Cletus starts, staring at the cardboard sign on the wall. " 'No eating people.' Either you have some very emnasty/em chickens here, or you and I share something else in common." His lips curl, and he lifts a hand. Blood red tendrils creep out, and Eddie's heart stops./p
p class="MsoNormal"emAnother symbiote?/em/p
p class="MsoNormal""H-how?" Eddie sputters, but he already knows. Though the bite mark is long gone, the memory is stark in his mind./p
p class="MsoNormal""The better question, always, is emwhy/em, Eddie. Why are we all born, we tragic hell-bound fishes? Then why wish to die?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie cautiously sits down on a chair at his small dinner table. "I'm sure you didn't come here to spout poetry."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No," Cletus muses. "I came here to remember the good ol' times." He scratches his chin. "Although now that I think about it, there were none. Not for me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Stop with the sob story. Either kill me or leave."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Tell me about this thing, then." Cletus raises his hand, and a red, clawed hand materializes, so familiar, and yet so strange. It's like looking into a dark mirror./p
p class="MsoNormal""It's an alien. You got it from me, but you shouldn't have it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Where's yours?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Gone."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Cletus burst out laughing, and Eddie only frowned. "You gave this up? Well, that makes this easier." He rises from the sofa, claws bared./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie rises as well, weaponless./p
p class="MsoNormal""You sent me to the chair. You figured it out with this thing." The tendrils rise in response, wicked blades meant only for killing. "I think it's quite poetic that I'll be killing you with this gift." He tilts his head, thinking. "Huh. I suppose I did come here for poetry after all."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He thrusts a hand out, and Eddie dives, just barely dodging the blade. He scrambles on hands and feet to the door, but another blade skewers it shut. He tries the knob, but the door must be jammed. There's nowhere to go./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie can only turn and watch, back against the door, as a third blade races toward him, slides into his right shoulder. He screams, and another impales his right leg./p
p class="MsoNormal"emI'm like a fucking insect pinned to a fucking frame/em, he thinks numbly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Another blade impales his stomach. Blinded by pain, he can only lift his head for a blurry image of Cletus standing over him, grinning with an alien smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"And then, everything goes dark./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom is weak from jumping from host to host. None are a match. He is alone. His only choice is to go to the drug store. Find some chocolate. Anywhere, anyone but Eddie./p
p class="MsoNormal"He passes a building with the breaking news beaming from its side./p
p class="MsoNormal""Cletus Kasady, infamous serial killer escaped. Armed and extremely dangerous."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He doesn't have the strength to worry about the fleshy almost-dead man right now. He just wishes he could have bitten his head off instead of a stupid chair doing the work./p
p class="MsoNormal"The sirens blast as he stumbles toward the store, sending his skin into a shock. He writhes in momentary pain until he sees that it's going to Eddie's apartment. The lights, blue red blue red blue red./p
p class="MsoNormal"Red./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom's eyes widen./p
p class="MsoNormal"emEddie/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"Who would Cletus go after first? Who else but the person responsible for sending him to his death?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom bursts into a run, his host's legs like jelly beneath him. There wasn't much time. Not for him or for Eddie./p
p class="MsoNormal"Visions of Eddie laying on the floor of his apartment haunt Venom, visions of a blood-soaked rug or empty eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal"emNot if I hurry./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emPlease, Eddie. Please be alive/em./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom catches a ride to the hospital on the ambulance using one of the EMT workers. This host is weak, and Venom was weak, and Eddie . . ./p
p class="MsoNormal"Eddie is barely breathing./p
p class="MsoNormal"Venom is used to blood. Used to gunshots and getting stabbed and impaled and falling. But this is different. This is Eddie./p
p class="MsoNormal"The worst part is, Venom realizes he can't switch to Eddie just yet. They are both too weak. They would both die./p
p class="MsoNormal"Separate, at least, maybe one could . . ./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Anne arrives at the hospital soon after Eddie and Venom do./p
p class="MsoNormal"She cries, and Venom stays with her, using her as a host with her permission. He gets stronger with her, but it is still too early for him to try to help Eddie. They have to wait. Wait and trust humans./p
p class="MsoNormal"The lights flicker above them in a green-tiled hallway filled with the silence of dying./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"~/p
p class="MsoNormal""He's going to make it," a doctor announces at two the next morning. Venom could almost hug him in relief. emAlmost/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"Instead, he listens attentively as Anne asks questions./p
p class="MsoNormal"emWhatever happens, /emVenom thoughtem, Cletus is going to pay/em./p