Chapter Three

Eddie will always consider New York his home, but he's grown fond of the City by the Bay and its many neighborhoods. The Tenderloin, though, is not one of those places. It's located downtown, bordered by some of the wealthiest districts in San Francisco. While it's surrounded by affluence, that isn't the reason the Tenderloin had the reputation it had. The area is unfortunately plagued by poverty, crime, drug use, and homelessness.

Eddie recalls doing a story about spending a night in the Tenderloin where he exposed the horrid reality of the challenges that people residing there face. While his exposé did help spread some awareness, it did next to nothing to stop, or even lessen, the drug dealing epidemic. That pisses Eddie off to no end, but just this past week the news reported that the San Francisco police department carried out a targeted drug operation that ended in eighty-four arrests.

Eighty-four!

Eddie thinks back on how naively optimistic he was the day he found out about the bust.

"Maybe now those streets will finally get clean," he remembers muttering to himself. As he parks his bike near the corner of Turk and Taylor, glancing around the seedy surroundings, he shakes his head, knowing full well that that was wishful thinking.

"Can you believe it?" Eddie muses aloud.

What? Venom asks.

"They made 84 arrests of which 63 lowlives were booked into county jail," Eddie tells his symbiote as hops off his bike. No one so much as bats an eyelash or shoots Eddie a strange look for talking out loud as he crosses the street. That seems to be pretty much the norm around here.

"Sixty-three people behind bars where they belong…" Eddie continues before pausing.

And? Venom goads.

"And it was only for two seconds. Most of them are now out of custody, back out on these streets, fucking up the neighborhood again."

This neighborhood already looks fucked up, Venom opines.

"Yeah," Eddie agrees. "And it's because of these criminals."

So they were in jail but now released?

"Uh-huh," Eddie nods incredulously.

Why?

"Because the system sucks, V," Eddie admits with a shrug. "The cops are doing their jobs, but it's sort of a catch and release type program. It's pretty wild, really. Like a revolving door."

A revolving door, the symbiote repeated soberly.

Eddie stops to rub his chin thoughtfully. "Do you know why I think that is?"

Why?

"I think it's mainly because there's no incentive for these bastards to quit doing what they're doing." He zeroes in on a man with a hooded sweater a few yards away, handing a small baggie with four white tablets to a short man—no, a teenager. A freaking kid.

No incentive, you say.

"Well, no. At least… not until now."

Eddie feels glee practically bubble up inside him when Venom understood what he meant.

That one, Eddie? Venom asks expectantly. Can I eat that one?

There's a beat of silence before Eddie finally replies, "Yes."

No sooner does the word leave his mouth and Eddie is taken over by Venom, his body engulfed by black goo as he transforms. His form is massive, terrifying, and God, he feels so powerful! He loves it, basking and relishing in its glory. He feels… no, he is unstoppable.

They are unstoppable.

They take a mighty leap forward, but land as light as a feather right behind the unsuspecting drug dealer.

"Why would you do that?" Venom asks him from behind.

"Do what?" the scrawny hooded man asks in a faintly irritated tone. He turns around, jaw dropping as his eyes bulge with fear when he sees Venom. "What the fuck?" He startles, moving back and tripping over a crack in the sidewalk, making him fall on his ass. He yelps when he makes contact with the solid concrete. Despite the pain he continues to slink back, trying desperately to place distance between him and— "W-what the fuck are you?"

"We are Venom," they smirk proudly, baring their long, sharp teeth. The frightened drug dealer whimpers pitifully when Venom leans down to jab him in the center of his chest with a lengthy black finger. "But we asked you a question first." A viscous rope of slimy saliva leaks out of Venom's mouth and settles thickly on the delinquent's jacket. "Why would you do that?"

The trembling man fixates on Venom's foreboding mouth, shaking his head slightly as he stutters, unable to form even a single word.

"Why would you continue to do the very thing that made you go to jail in the first place?" Venom elaborates, tilting their head. "Why are you still selling drugs? And what's worse, to a kid?"

Suddenly Venom's monstrous hand wraps around the man's throat, picking him up off the ground in one quick second as they come up to stand. Venom raises him up with ease and his feet are now dangling. They scoff as the lowlife struggles futilely to escape their grasp.

"Please," the man chokes out. "Please! Let. Me. Go!"

"No," Venom answers. "We will not let you go like the police did."

"Please," the man pleads once more. "I'll do anything!"

"Anything?"

"Yes, yes!"

Venom hums and there's a tense moment of silence before they speak again, seemingly having reached a decision. "Okay."

The man gasps, obviously surprised. "Really?"

"Yes," Venom reassures as they reluctantly let go of their catch. "But you must do something for me."

"What?" the drug dealer asks fearfully after catching his breath.

"Bring as many of your… friends as you can back to this corner," they instruct.

"Friends?" the trembling dealer asks with confusion.

"Mmm-hmm," Venom nods slowly, flashing another cringe-worthy smile. "The ones that were in prison with you."

The man blinks and stands stock-still.

Venom snarls, causing the man to jump. "You have fifteen minutes, turd," they threaten, bringing their face within an inch of his, "or we will come for you. Now go!"

The bumbling criminal does not waste a moment, turning on his heel to run the opposite direction, rounding the corner before disappearing into the night.

"This better work, Eddie," Venom warns. "We are starving!"

"Trust me, buddy," Eddie soothes. "It'll work. And soon you'll be so full you won't even know what to do with yourself."

"What do we do now?" Venom asks petulantly, starting to pace.

"Go to that building over there and hide," Eddie orders and Venom makes haste. "We can't afford to be seen."

As Venom hurries to take cover they bump into the teenager they saw earlier. Without a second thought, Venom snatches the baggie away from the boy's hand.

"Hey!" the enraged boy starts to protest before falling silent, shocked at the sight of Venom.

"Can we eat him, Eddie?" Venom says with a wide-tooth grin, taking a step toward their prey. "He bought drugs. He is bad."

"No!" Eddie yells, making Venom halt his movements. "We do not, I repeat, we do not eat children! No matter how bad they are."

"Fine," Venom huffs indignantly then turns to address the bewildered teen. "Don't do drugs, kid, and stay in school." They stomp past him, calling over their shoulder, "If you disobey, we will know. And we will come to eat your brains." They don't bother to see the teen's reaction, continuing on their path until they are at last safely hidden. The spot they've chosen near an abandoned building offers a good vantage point and they wait—not so patiently on Venom's part—for the bad guys to come to them.

"How much longer?" Venom blurts unexpectedly after a while.

"One minute left, V," Eddie informs his testy symbiote.

"Where are they?!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be here any second now," Eddie placates nervously.

He hopes he's right or else he's not sure if he can stave off Venom's raging hunger any longer and then well, he worries that anything and anyone will be fair game, and there won't be much he can do to stop his partner.

"Partner?" Venom repeats aloud.

"What?"

"You called me your… partner," Venom clarifies. "In your mind."

"You heard my thoughts?" Eddie states wildly, perplexed.

"Is that what we are, Eddie?" Venom's deflects. "Partners?"

"W—" Eddie begins to reply when the blaring chime of his cell phone rings loudly, startling and distracting them both. Venom shifts quickly, moving back inside Eddie so that he is able to retrieve his phone from his pants and silence it.

"Who the hell is calling me right now?" Eddie complains raspingly. He looks at the caller ID before hitting the decline button. "Unknown?" Shrugging, he shoves his phone back in his pocket when it rings again. "Jesus Christ!" Reacting instinctively, he presses the green accept button and brings the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Edward Brock, the investigative reporter?" an unfamiliar female voice asks.

"Um, yes," Eddie confirms. His tone is hesitant, wary. "Who is this?"

Eddie! Can I eat that guy over there? He looks like he's up to no good…

Eddie looks up and shakes his head, mouthing, "He's just homeless, not a bad guy."

He hears Venom groan as the mysterious caller introduces herself.

"I'm Special Agent Raahki Mathew. I'm with the FBI. I work in the Criminal Investigative Division."

Eddie gasps and chokes on his own spit, triggering a coughing fit.

EDDIE! Are you okay?

"Mr. Brock?"

"I'm fine," he wheezes, answering both the FBI agent and his worried symbiote. He feels Venom's relief flood him as he inhales deeply, clearing his throat before speaking once more. "Sorry, I just… breathed wrong?"

Idiot, Venom chides.

"Parasite," Eddie mumbles under his breath.

Parasite?!

"Excuse me?" asks the agent.

"Nothing, I was just clearing my throat," Eddie explains, coughing once more for good measure. "So, uh, you said your name was Rocky and that uh, you work for the FBI?"

"Yes, but it's Agent Mathew to you," she corrected.

Eddie rolls his eyes at that, more annoyed now than anxious of this FBI agent, who seems to have a stick up her ass. "Why are you calling me, Agent Mathew?"

"Well, I was getting to that before I was interrupted by your breathing," the agent speaks in a chafing tone, "I've been assigned to the Kasady case. I wanted to know if you could meet up with me so we could look over your notes."

"My notes?"

EDDIE! He's back! He came back!

"Yes, your interview notes," Agent Mathew explains. "Did you not interview Cletus Kasady earlier today?"

And he brought his friends, Eddie! So many friends...

"Oh yeah, I did interview him but I'm still worki—"

"Right, so we'll need to go over what he told you to see if it can help us identify more bodies," she interrupted. "That way we can close as many open cases as we can before his death sentence is carried out."

EDDIE! Let's go! They're waiting for us!

"Look, ma'am, I still have to work on it some more," Eddie says, glancing up to see that the drug dealer did indeed come back with company in tow. "The report is nowhere near done yet."

"I'm not interested in your piece, Mr. Brock," Agent Mathew shot back. "I wish to know everything Cletus stated in your interview. Every single thing."

"Yeah, but—"

EDDIE! HUNGRY! BRAINS! WE WANT BRAINS RIGHT NOW!

"And I need your notes as soon as possible. I'm actually free later tonight. Can you meet with me then?" Agent Mathew persists.

At this point, Eddie is beyond irritated with both this pushy federal agent and Venom's constant nagging that he blurts out, "Alright!"

"Thank you, Mr. Brock," Agent Mathew replies at the exact same moment Venom takes over Eddie's body, causing his cell phone to fall to the ground. He is able to hear one last thing from the FBI agent before the call ends: "Meet me at Miller's on Polk Street at 8:30."

Venom practically breaks into a sprint to meet up with the gang of criminals that were unknowingly about to be devoured.

"Hey, my phone!" Eddie yells at Venom.

"We'll get it back," Venom promises, eyeing his meal with greedy eyes, "but right now it is time to eat."

Eddie groans, wincing internally. He never did take to the idea of consuming human flesh. It still doesn't sit right with him to this day and the prospect of having to do that soon creates a knot in his stomach. He pushes aside his feelings of disgust, though, burying them deep down alongside his nausea. Tonight, though, Eddie is willing to engage in cannibalism for Venom. He knows it's the least he could do after the alien saved his life… and his planet.

Besides, San Francisco, and Tenderloin especially, could do without–Eddie pauses to count the number of men and women congregated before them–a dozen less criminals on the streets. As far as Eddie's concerned, they are doing the neighborhood and the city a huge service.

"Where is he, Joey?" they hear one of the men ask as they approach them unseen.

"Why are we here again?" a skinny woman bellows impatiently. "I've got customers waiting! I'm losing money here."

"I told you guys," the drug dealer they now know is named Joey shouts as he makes calming gestures with his hands, "the boss wants to meet with us here, a-ight?"

"Then where is he?" yelled someone else. "Where's Jack? Holy fucking shit! What is THAT?!"

The group look towards where he pointed and the air fills with scattered gasps, expletives, and screams as they lay eyes on Venom.

"Don't bother running," Venom advises as a long tendril shoots out to capture a fleeing crook by the neck, dragging his flailing body back to them. "Don't bother fighting," they suggest as their massive hand knocks out a gun from one of their victim's hands while another ooey-gooey black tendril generates from their form to swipe a knife from another. "You all have been very bad which for us is a very good thing. A really good thing." Venom smiles broadly, showing off his trademark wicked grin.

"Fuck you, you fucking monster!" the skinny woman yells, running straight up to Venom. They are caught off guard by her boldness and they fail to see the knife she's wielding before she buries it deep in their left calf. Venom growls and pulls the knife out, grabbing the woman by her shoulder and pulling her up to their face.

The woman struggles to break free as Venom sniffs the top of her head. "Mmm… mmm," they moan approvingly before opening their mouth wide. There is a sickening and resounding crunch as Venom closes their sharp, jagged teeth around the woman's neck. "Delicious!" Venom boasts after swallowing, tossing her headless body over to the left.

"Oh my God! He just bit Jasleen's head off!" Joey yells, garnering Venom's attention.

They reach for him, wrapping their hand around his neck. "Yes, and we want more."

"Please, no—ahh!"

Venom engulfs Joey's head with his mouth before ripping it clean off his body. They make noisy chomping and slurping sounds as they chewed with gusto. "More!" they exclaim in between bites, going after one and another and another. Venom is quick, efficient and ruthless as the captured try in vain to escape or fight. It isn't that much long after when Venom seems to be done. All that is left is a stuffed-to-the-gills Venom alongside a mound of decapitated bodies.

"That was delicious, Eddie," Venom states after two boisterous gulps. "Thank you."

"I uh… you're welcome? I guess?" Eddie groans, feeling uncomfortably full. He's not entirely sure how he's able to experience that sensation. He doesn't think he'll ever get used to the taste of human flesh, especially with how similar it tasted to pork. Perhaps a bit more gamey. He grimaces at the notion, thankful he decided to no longer eat any more pork.

"Look, Eddie… a pile of bodies!" Venom laughs heartily.

"Ha, yeah," Eddie chuckles without humor. "We should probably do something about that."

"Do something?"

"You know… get rid of them," Eddie spells out.

"No, we don't want to waste tasty snacks."

"Snacks?"

"So many livers, so many pancreases," Venom says as they pick up one of the lifeless forms from their hill of butchery.

"We don't have time for this, V," Eddie retorts, hoping he can sway Venom from eating more. How is it possible to always be so hungry? "We have a meeting with the FBI. We need to get going!"

"So many snacks, so little time."

"No, Venom," Eddie starts to protest but Venom has already begun consuming his "snacks," cracking open a decapitated body like a pistachio, removing and gobbling up its innards. Venom grabs another body from the pile and hangs it upside down, spilling blood and entrails. They jut their tongue out to lick up an arm and a ropy wad of tendon clings from his mouth.

"Don't worry, Eddie. We will not take long."

"Oh, God," is all Eddie can say as Venom guts and eats, and he internally vows to not do this again for a long while.

"How long?"

"Very long," Eddie answers. "A very long time."

"Hmph," Venom scoffs, slicing open another body. "We'll see."

"We'll see how he feels when he wakes up," Toby hears someone say faintly. It sounds like they're close. Right next to him, in fact. He doesn't have the strength to open his eyes yet as he slowly starts regaining consciousness.

"What exactly happened to him, Stan?" a female voice asks.

"I'm not sure, nurse," Toby recognizes Stan the janitor's voice say. Nurse? Toby surmises he must be in the infirmary. "I left him for no more than a few minutes to grab some ammonia to clean up some blood we found in the hallway. When I came back he was screaming and writhing in pain, then he just passes out and fell to the floor."

"Hmm, how very odd," the nurse murmured. "Well, he's out cold right now, but his vital signs are stable. I worry he may have gotten a concussion from the fall or worse, a contusion. I'll keep an eye on him. Thanks for bringing him to me, Stan."

"Of course! Thank you for taking care of him. Well, I'll leave you to it, then," Stan says. "I know he's in good hands. I'll check in on him later."

Toby…

The sound of his name disorients him and he shivers slightly because he knows it wasn't the nurse or Stan who called him. It sounds much closer than that.

So much closer.

Toby!

He inhales sharply, but keeps his eyes closed and his body freezes. It's definitely much closer. The voice… that bone-chilling and alien voice… it's coming from inside him.

Inside his brain.

How can that be?

I must've hit my head really hard, Toby concludes.

Hungry, Toby. I am hungry!

What the fuck? Toby gasps as his eyes shoot wide open of their own volition. It's then that he realizes how much pain he is in. It's excruciating, he feels it everywhere. He feels it in his head, his chest, and his stomach. They all feel like they're being viciously gnawed on, as if piranhas were devouring him down to the bone. Toby can hardly think or focus because of the throbbing torment, yet somehow he moves to sit up on the stretcher he's on. Why is he doing this? How is he doing this? He realizes that it isn't him doing these actions. He is not in control of his own body.

Your organs are tasty, Toby, but it is not enough. I need more.

"What is going on?" Toby struggles to ask, fighting tooth and nail to formulate another sentence. "What… are… you?"

"Toby?" The nurse comes to his side. "Toby, my name is Kat. I'm the nurse on duty here tonight in the infirmary. I don't know if you remember but you fainted. You should lay down. I think you might have a concussion."

Toby grapples, trying to utter words through the pain and whatever it is that's got a hold on him. "I… can't."

"You can't lay down?" Kat asks.

Gritting his teeth, he barely manages to answer, "No."

She smells delicious! HUNGRY! Must eat!

No! Toby screams internally, resisting the overwhelming urge to bite the nurse.

"Well, I'm gonna need you to try—" the nurse is interrupted as the door to the infirmary slams open and two hefty guards come storming in, dragging a severely injured prisoner between them. The nurse runs towards them to attend to the bleeding inmate, leaving Toby on his own.

No, she got away! Go to her now!

No! Toby yells inwardly. I won't kill her. I won't!

Then I will eat you, Toby, and you will die.

"What… are… you?" Toby asks aloud, shifting his gaze to see the nurse and guards place the redheaded man on a nearby gurney.

I am your destruction, Toby.

"No, please," Toby begs mercifully when a searing pain cuts through him. It's as if he's being sliced and diced from within. It's absolutely unbearable. He loses strength and falls, plopping down on his side, landing with a thud back onto the stretcher.

His vision blurs and his eyeballs feel like they're on fire, burning sharply before everything suddenly goes black and his sight is completely gone. It hurts so bad, he knows and accepts his fate. It won't be much longer now. He can feel his end looming, but before he completely slips away from this world and succumbs to the comforting black abyss of death, he hears the nurse and guards talking.

"What happened to him?!"

"We caught this fucker trying to escape again and well… things got way out of hand."

Author's Note: I always love hearing from you guys! Are you liking it so far? What do you think will happen next? Let me know your thoughts in the little box below... thanks for reading!