Chapter 262: I Was Wrong, Venom
"What happened to you?" Anne asked, her eyes widening as she took in Eddie's disheveled appearance.
Eddie's hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, and his clothes were caked with patches of dried mud. He looked like a man who had been dragged through a swamp.
"Uh... had a bit of an accident on the way here, but I'm fine, really." Eddie slid into the booth next to Anne. His eyes immediately locked onto the steak on the table, and he swallowed hard.
Dan, noticing the hunger in Eddie's eyes, pushed his untouched plate of steak toward him. "Here, take mine. I haven't started yet." He then signaled the waiter to bring another order.
"Thanks." Eddie shot a glance at Dr. Dan. So this is Anne's new boyfriend? He seemed like a decent guy, which only made Eddie feel more pathetic.
"Don't mention it," Dan said, smiling warmly at Anne.
Anne beamed. Dan was exactly the kind of gentle, secure man she needed. Most guys would have been hostile seeing their girlfriend's ex, but Dan was perfectly composed.
Eddie began to wolf down the steak like a starving animal. He was famished; those few chicken wings from the night before hadn't done nearly enough to satisfy the void in his stomach.
"Eddie... slow down," Anne said, her concern deepening. It had been less than a month since they broke up, but he looked like he'd been living on the streets for a year.
"Right. Sorry." Eddie tried to slow his pace, though his body screamed for more.
Once the second steak arrived, Dan picked up his knife and fork. "So, Eddie, you mentioned a 'parasite' on the phone last night. What was that about?"
"It's not a parasite. It's a different kind of life form. A Symbiote," Eddie said, unsure if a medical doctor would even recognize the term in this context.
"A symbiote?" Dan mused.
In biology, symbiosis referred to an interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. Sometimes they became so integrated they couldn't survive apart. Dan knew the science, but he couldn't wrap his head around how it applied to a human being in San Francisco.
Eddie saw the skepticism in Dan's eyes. "I don't mean the textbook kind. I mean... a very, very powerful one."
"Right..." Dan looked to Anne for help. He hadn't expected Eddie to be this... imaginative.
"Eddie, just take a breath," Anne said gently. "Dan is here to help you. You don't have to make up stories."
"I'm not making it up! Listen..." Eddie leaned in and began to dump everything he knew about Venom—the voice, the strength, the hunger—onto Anne and Dan.
The couple exchanged a long, worried look. Dan had never heard of a biological specimen that sounded anything like that.
Anne sighed, her patience wearing thin. "Eddie, look. Dan came here to help you get medical attention. Can you please stop with the exaggerations?"
"I know you don't believe me, but I can prove it!" Eddie had anticipated this. "Venom, do something. Show them."
Silence. Venom didn't move an inch. The atmosphere at the table became incredibly awkward.
"Venom? Is that the name you gave it?" Dan asked, suppressing a smile.
"Yes. That's what he calls himself," Eddie explained desperately. "Venom, come on! Show yourself, or they're going to think I'm a lunatic!"
But Venom remained stubbornly silent, refusing to give Eddie even a spark of power.
"That's enough, Eddie." Anne's disappointment was palpable. This felt like a cry for attention. She had brought Dan here in good faith, and Eddie was just playing games.
Unlike Anne, Dan remained patient. "Eddie, don't worry. We'll go to the hospital after lunch and run some scans. We'll figure out what's going on."
"Fine..." Eddie muttered, returning to his steak. Is he still sulking? He couldn't believe an alien life form could be this petty.
As Eddie kept his head down, a large group of police officers suddenly entered the restaurant.
"Pfft—!" Eddie saw them out of the corner of his eye and nearly choked on a piece of beef. He hurriedly wiped his mouth. "I have to go. I'll see you later!"
He pulled his hood up and made a break for it. Seeing the front exit blocked by the arriving officers, he dove toward the kitchen's back entrance.
"Captain, look!" one officer shouted, pointing at the suspicious figure in the hoodie.
The Captain adjusted his cap and turned to the hostess. "Do you know that man?"
"No, he just came in as a customer," she replied.
"Move out!" The Captain led his team toward the kitchen. Every officer in the city had seen Eddie's mugshot by now, and given that it was a fresh warrant, the Captain recognized him instantly.
"Crap, crap, crap," Eddie whispered, glancing back to see the police closing in. "Venom, you have to help me. I think I'm cornered."
Eddie felt a wave of helplessness. These officers had orders to shoot on sight; after all, Eddie was suspected of killing a fellow officer.
As he burst into the kitchen, a chef barked, "Hey! Who are you?"
"Just passing through!" Eddie scrambled past the stoves and prep tables, ignoring the shouts of the kitchen staff.
"Go to the back door! Cut him off!" the Captain ordered. He was certain now—only a guilty man would run like that.
Eddie dodged between the chefs. Seeing a plate of steak on a counter, he grabbed it and hurled it behind him to create an obstacle.
CLATTER!
An officer swiped the plate aside. "Get down! Fire!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets whistled through the kitchen. If it weren't for the heavy metal racks and industrial fridges breaking the line of sight, Eddie would have been riddled with holes.
"Venom! NOW!" Eddie kicked open the back door and lunged outside.
He stopped dead. Five black muzzles were pointed directly at his head. The officers who had circled around were waiting for him.
"Keep running. You seemed so good at it," the Captain sneered, stepping out from the kitchen behind him.
Eddie forced a nervous smile and raised his hands. "Don't shoot... please don't shoot."
"Oh, we won't shoot. You're far too valuable alive," the Captain said. The government had seen the footage of the "monster." They wanted to study Eddie's biology, and a living specimen was much more useful than a dead one.
"Well, that's a relief," Eddie exhaled. But the Captain's next words chilled him.
"The boys upstairs are very interested in what's inside you." The Captain scanned Eddie, looking for anything unusual.
"Venom, did you hear that? They want to cut us open for research," Eddie whispered.
When there was still no response, Eddie finally cracked. "Okay! Fine! I was wrong! I'll buy you a whole case of chocolate, okay?!"
"What are you muttering about?!" the Captain snapped.
"You promised!" A surge of black liquid suddenly exploded from Eddie's skin.
"FIRE!"
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