Chapter 259: Finally Having a Meal
Anne couldn't help but wonder if Eddie had been so traumatized by their breakup that he had finally snapped. Why else would he be talking such utter nonsense?
"Hello? Dr. Dan?" Eddie checked his phone in confusion. The call hadn't dropped, so why was there only silence?
"Um... sorry, Eddie," Dan said, snapping back to reality. "If you're free tomorrow, how about we grab lunch, and then I can take you to the hospital for a full check-up?"
Eddie thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay. Let's meet tomorrow."
"Great." Dan hung up.
Eddie tossed his phone onto the sofa and rushed to the toaster oven. Ignoring the heat of the tray, he grabbed the chicken wings with his bare hands and shoved them into his mouth.
"Hot! Hot!" After chewing frantically and swallowing, he grabbed a pitcher of water and downed it in one go.
"Phew..." Eddie exhaled sharply and slumped onto the floor.
Just then, a wave of loud music blasted through the walls, drilling into Eddie's ears.
"Argh! So loud!" For some reason, hearing the noise made Eddie feel an uncontrollable, violent surge of irritation.
He stood up, stomped over to his neighbor's apartment, and began pounding on the door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"What's your problem?" The neighbor opened the door holding a guitar, looking at Eddie with annoyance.
With the music stopped, the agitation in Eddie's heart slowly receded. He tried to speak calmly. "I'm... I'm feeling really stressed. Could you please keep it down?"
"Not my problem, man." The neighbor slammed the door shut, nearly hitting Eddie in the nose.
SLAM!
"Ow!" Eddie rubbed his forehead. Suddenly, the black substance began to surge over his skin.
Inside the Neighbor's Apartment
"It's fine, everyone! Let's get back to the music!" the neighbor shouted to his friends who were attending his impromptu concert.
BOOM!
The front door was suddenly ripped off its hinges and sent flying into the room. A massive, black monstrous figure stepped through the dust.
"One, two, three, four... what lovely little snacks." Venom was finally going to have a proper meal!
"Aaaaargh!" The room descended into chaos. Where did this monster come from?
Venom extended his right hand, shooting out a strand of black webbing that yanked the neighbor directly into his grasp.
"Who are you?! What are you?!" The neighbor's legs turned to jelly.
Venom looked at the man like he was inspecting a buffet. "I like brains the most. I wonder if you actually have one."
Venom flicked out his long tongue and licked the neighbor's face. The scent was intoxicating!
Terrified, the neighbor promptly fainted. It was for the best; at least he would die in his sleep.
Venom could no longer restrain his hunger. He bit down on the man's head. Blood sprayed across the floor and walls. The others in the room scrambled into the back bedrooms, frantically dialing 911.
"Delicious food." Between his time with Peter and the escape from Riot, Venom was nearly starving. Finally, he was eating.
Venom unhinged his jaw and consumed the rest of the body. Once finished, he retracted into Eddie's body, handing back control so he could focus on digesting the meal.
"I... did I just eat a person?" Eddie could see everything clearly, even though Venom had been in the driver's seat.
"Gag!" Eddie clutched his chest, trying to force himself to throw up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. It won't work," Venom said casually.
"Who the hell are you?!" Eddie confirmed this wasn't a hallucination. There was a very powerful... well, parasite, inside him.
"You can call me Venom."
"Venom?" Eddie looked around the room, picked up a mop, and tried to wipe up some of the mess. "I am so, so sorry... but what's done is done. I hope you're happy in hell."
After a half-hearted attempt to clean the floor, Eddie bolted back to his own apartment and locked the door.
Unbeknownst to him, his neighbors in the other room had filmed the entire thing. They huddled together, trembling in shock, grateful to still be alive.
"Please tell me this is a dream," Eddie whispered, sliding down his door. The thing inside him had just made him a cannibal.
"I can only tell you it's very real," Venom said dismissively. "It's perfectly natural, Eddie."
"How do you know my name?" Eddie asked, spooked. Can this thing read minds?
"If I weren't blind and deaf, I would have seen your ID badge on the desk and heard that woman call you 'Eddie,'" Venom replied.
"..." Eddie walked to the table and began gnawing on the remaining chicken wings. Venom was full, but he was still hungry.
"And Eddie, I am not a parasite." Venom felt the need to correct him. He wasn't some low-level organism.
Eddie nodded. For now, he just had to comply. He'd explain everything to Dr. Dan tomorrow. "Then what are you?"
"I am a Symbiote. Remember that."
"Symbiote?"
"Think of us as being in a mutually beneficial relationship. And remember: if I leave you, you will die," Venom added.
He said this specifically to prevent Eddie from being "heartless" like Peter and trying to cast him out—especially since the separation from Peter had almost killed him.
"Why?" Eddie didn't believe it.
"See for yourself." Venom's head emerged from Eddie's shoulder.
"I've never seen anything so ugly. Was I really just walking around looking like that?" Eddie asked, missing the point entirely.
Venom decided to give Eddie a lesson. He began to pull away from Eddie's skin, but kept a portion of his mass wrapped tightly around Eddie's heart.
"Ah!" Eddie felt a sudden, crushing pain in his chest, as if his heart was about to explode. He collapsed, twitching on the floor.
Seeing the lesson was learned, Venom merged back fully and released the pressure, even repairing a bit of the minor tissue damage he'd caused.
As the pain vanished, Eddie regained his breath. "F***..."
"So... you're saying my life and your life are tied together now?" Eddie was miserable. He was bonded to a foul-smelling monster.
"You could put it that way. Except if I leave, I might survive, but you definitely won't," Venom lied. He wanted to make sure Eddie wouldn't try any "suicide mission" nonsense to take them both out.
"Fine." Eddie had indeed had a fleeting thought of ending it all to stop the monster. Now, living seemed like the better option.
"By the way, Eddie, buy me a few cases of chocolate." Venom remembered the chocolate Peter's uncle had promised. Peter had let him down.
"Chocolate? What do you want chocolate for?" Eddie asked, puzzled.
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