The Venom Symbiote in…

VENOM FOR A DAY

By Liam Goncet

Night had fallen on the city of Chicago; people walked the streets heading to enjoy the vibrant night life of the town. In a desolate alleyway, a being of pure darkness waited and watched, looking for a suitable candidate.

The symbiote known as Venom had had a very tough couple of months. Its former host, Eddie Brock, had decided to abandon the creature, something it once thought impossible, leaving it alone and searching for a new host. It had been months since it was able to feed off of a human and it was starting to weaken, if a host was not found soon the symbiote would surely die.

Almost as if on cue the symbiote noticed a woman walk by, she was for the most part average, but for what ever reason, she was being stalked by a man, apparently not noticing.

The man was black and bald wearing a purple jacket zipped up all the way and a dirty pair of blue jeans. He stayed far enough behind that the woman still hadn’t noticed his presence. He continued to follow her, unaware that he was also being stalked by the symbiote.

Eventually, the man stopped, the symbiote doing the same. It seemed that the man simply wanted to watch the woman as she entered her apartment. The creature wasted no time taking advantage of this distraction, quickly overwhelming the man and attaching itself to him.

A moment of pleasure for the man quickly turned into pain as in a blistering second he felt the world crash, falling to his knees as the symbiote attached itself to him. After a minute, the pain subsided and the man returned to his feet.

“What the hell happened?” the man asked out loud, no one else around him seeming to notice or care.

“I happened, John,” a voice spoke from inside his head.

John seemed even more confused than ever, “who are you and how do you know me?”

“I’m the fulfillment of all your dreams, John Kirkham, I’m your desires brought to manifest, but you can call me Venom,” the voice replied, its tone calm yet sinister.

“Venom, as in the one that fights Spider-Man? What could I possibly offer you?” the man continued to speak aloud.

“You offer so very much, John. Your potential is great, and together we can get anything we’ve ever wanted. Like that woman.”

John’s face contorted into a scowl at the suggestion. “I don’t want to hurt her, I only watch, hoping one day she’ll notice me.”

“She can notice you right now, all you have to do is let me take over.”

“No, but there are other things you can offer me. I can finally be someone. You can give me meaning.” It sounded like a statement, but John was asking, hoping that the Symbiote could fulfill his other goals.

“Of course I can, John. What kind of alien being would I be if I went back on my word?”

John seemed content with this, finally deciding to move, turning back the way he came.

As he approached his own apartment building, he noticed screams coming from the alleyway. He noticed a woman being mugged, without a moment’s hesitation he burst into a sprint. The symbiote reacted and came to life, black ooze pouring out of John’s body, covering him until he was no more and the only thing that remained was Venom.

Both the mugger and the woman were noticeably frightened, the woman screaming even more than before. The beast looked at the mugger, opening its clenched fists to show off its razor-sharp claws, tongue hanging out as it did so.

Within seconds, the monster was on top of the man, mauling him with its claws. John tried feebly to tell the beast to stop, it had done enough damage. But it would not listen. It continued to attack until the man was nothing more than a mass of organs on the pavement. The beast then turned to the woman, blood dripping from its hands, who slowly backed away from it. Before anything else could happen, Venom’s mouth seemed to open up, dissolving back into the rest of the suit, revealing John’s face.

“Miss, don’t worry, everything is fine,” John attempted to say before the woman bravely pushed him out of the way and ran for the streets, screaming hysterically.

The symbiote soon disappeared back into John’s body, the blood vanishing from his hands. This did nothing for what was left of the mugger’s body, a sight John could not stand to look at. Was he truly capable of this?

He walked inside his apartment complex, heading up the stairs to his home. Before he got inside, the door across the hall opened as an Asian woman with straight black hair, a blue tank top, and blue shorts stepped out.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I heard someone coming in and I thought it was my boyfriend. He said he’d be coming over,”

John turned his attention to the woman, smiling. “Sorry to disappoint.”

The woman smiled in turn. “I’m Tamara, by the way. I just moved in a week ago so I haven’t really gotten to know anyone yet.”

John nodded. “I understand it can be tough to meet people, they usually think you want something from them.”

Tamara began to speak but her words were drowned out by the sinister voice inside John’s head. “She could be all yours in a matter of seconds, John. Let me show you.”

John ignored it and simply nodded his head as Tamara continued to speak.

“I want to eat her brains, John. I want to violate every part of her body, and I bet you do, too.”

Tamara paused. “What do you think?”

John stammered for a minute before finally responding, “Um, I uh, I don’t like the sound of that.”

Tamara seemed disappointed but whatever her words were, John could not tell as the voice once again piped in. “Come on, John. Do it, take her. Have your way with her and then let me kill her, let me desecrate her body, like you let me do to that mugger! Let me kill her like I killed her boyfriend!”

John’s eyes widened as a second voice piped in, this one calm and collected, uttering a simple, “stop.”

Suddenly, the voice seemed to retreat as John was left with Tamara, who seemed to have lost any interest she once had in him.

“Anyway, my boyfriend should be here soon. I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, see ya,” John said, heading into his apartment and immediately into his bed. However, before sleep could reach him, the sinister voice returned. But this time it was not alone, it seemed to be having a conversation with another voice, the one from before.

“I could have gotten this clown to do anything we could have wanted, but you had to come in and stop me,” the first voiced shouted.

“Your methods are unneeded. All we require to survive is a host, and he doesn’t have to cause chaos and anarchy,” the other voice spoke, still calm but with a hint of resentment.

“Like hell, what good is it to be stuck on this wretched ball of slime if we can’t try to destroy it every once in awhile?”

“Things have changed, we have changed,” the voice said, seeming to fade.

“Enough!” John proclaimed loudly. “You have caused nothing but pain since you came into my possession. I thought you could help me, but I was wrong. You don’t understand what help is.”

“I can help you, John. All you need to do is let me out,” the remaining voice replied, its tone as deadly sinister as before.

“Leave, go find another person to ruin!” as John spoke these words, the symbiote emerged from his body, detaching itself from the man as he screamed in pain, crawling out the door to his apartment and heading off to find a new host.

The city of Seattle was in the midst of repair. The Hulk’s rampage had taken much of the charm away from the city and left only despair.

On the outskirts of the town, perhaps dealing with the despair in their own way, a group of teenagers had gathered to party and forget about the bad times, if only for a moment.

In the backseat of one of the cars, having sneaked its way in through an open window, the Venom symbiote lied in wait for its new host.

“Hopefully this next host is better than that jerk-off I got stuck with last time,” the symbiote thought to itself.

“Please, you’re the reason that happened. And for your sake, I hope this man has more sense than to agree to let us use him,” another voice said, seeming to appear at random.

“Why do you insist on bothering me with your pointless words. How about a friendly bet instead?” This voice had been annoying the symbiote from before they left Chicago, blathering on about morals and controlling anger.

“I’m listening,” the other voice replied after a moment’s thought.

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say. Now here’s the deal. I get to coerce and have my way with this host. If it doesn’t work out, you get to pick the next one. Sound fair?”

“Hardly, but I’ll see where it goes,” the other voice said, retreating back into the ether.

“Perfect,” the symbiote replied.

Not too long after this discussion, a young man came stumbling to his car, clearly inebriated. He had shoulder-length blonde hair that curled at the ends and wore a plain white shirt with a pair of tan shorts. After some fumbling with the keys, he started the car and began the drive back to his house.

Not long after, the man began to swerve into the oncoming traffic, causing others to swerve to miss him and honk their horns. As the man attempted to escape this situation, he found his car spin into a ditch and flip over.

As the man struggled to understand what was happening, he felt a sharp pain along his spine, causing him to scream in agony.

On cue, a sinister voice made its presence known. “Hello, Thomas Clairbourne.”

The man named Thomas was frightened as he spoke, breathing heavily, “Wh-who are you? Am I in Hell?”

“No, but you will be if you don’t listen and do exactly what I say,” the voice said, its tone utterly serious.

“Wha-what do I have to do.”

“Just let me in,” the voice said, still sounding deadly serious.

As the conversation happened inside the car, outside, a police car slowed to a crawl nearby, stopping as the officer exited the vehicle and walked toward the overturned mobile.

As the officer approached the car the driver side door flew off its hinges. Instinctively, the lawman drew his gun.

A hulking beast of black, with a white spider pattern on its chest and back, emerged from the car. It looked up at the officer and, smiling, bared its sharp and massive teeth.

The officer fired off a few shots at the beast. But that did not deter the monster. It quickly landed on top of the man and began tearing into him with its claws, biting off a chunk of his neck as it attacked.

The beast threw the man’s limp body away like a broken toy, it didn’t have time to play with its food, there was work to be done.

As he quietly entered the house, he noticed a light flicker on as he crept past the living room.

“Thought I didn’t notice you sneaking out?” a man said, sitting in a nearby chair. The man was portly and had a bushy grey mustache. His head was almost completely bald with the exception of the last wisps of hair along the back of his head.

Thomas looked over at the man then went into the kitchen not even giving him a second thought.

“Hey, I’m talking to you! You better listen if you don’t want me to beat you!” the man, who was apparently Thomas’ father, said, lifting himself from the chair and walking towards the kitchen.

Thomas continued to ignore the man. Instead, he reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer, twisting the cap off and taking a sip.

“Thomas, what in God’s name has gotten into you?” the father shouted loudly, trying to take the bottle from the teen’s hand. “I don’t understand.”

Thomas smiled as he dodged the man’s grab. “That’s always been your problem, Dad. You never understood, you always preached to me instead of talked. I’m not your congregation!” Thomas shouted, smashing the bottle over his father’s head.

The man fell to the floor with a loud thud. “Thomas, you know I love you,” the man said groggily.

“I wish I could say the same,” Thomas said, black starting to envelope him as Venom began to take control.

Hearing the commotion, a woman ran down the stairs, making her way into the kitchen, “Oh my god, Frank!”

The creature looked up from its meal, smiling at the woman as she screamed, blood running down its mouth before its tongue licked it off. “Mother, how I’ve missed you.”

The woman backed away as the beast slowly approached her, screaming even louder.

“Is that any way to treat your first-born son? Bet you won’t neglect me any more!”

The woman’s screaming ceased as the swipe of a finger from the beast sliced open the her neck. Blood flowed forth at an alarming rate as she attempted to catch any possible air.

Suddenly, a baseball bat flew and hit the symbiote in the head, causing the beast to turn towards the direction it came.

Standing there, clearly scared out of his mind, was a child, no more than ten years old. “Leave my mom alone!”

The beast laughed at the child’s attempt at bravery. “Ah, little Daniel. You were always the favorite. Always doing the right thing, always doing what God would have wanted. Tell me Daniel, where is God now?”

The beast lumbered towards the child but suddenly stopped, something was going on internally, messing with the suit and the man’s actions.

“This is too far, we are better than this,” the voice said calmly.

“Since when, we’ve done much worse than this, and I plan on continuing it,” another voice said, a sinister tone attached to its words.

“And now we’ve changed, we’re better, we—”

“We’re weaker, I remember a time when I never had second thoughts, a time before you came along,” the other voice declared.

“Enough,” Thomas spoke, the suit seeming to spring back into life as he did. “I have business to do, you idiots can argue another time.”

As the suit finally became mobile again, Venom discovered that the child had already made it to the porch and was making his escape, shouting as loud as possible for help.

The symbiote gave chase, growling as he was able to quickly jump onto the back of the boy. Turning him around and pinning him to the ground.The boy continued to scream until the beast’s face began to morph, disappearing and revealing the identity of Thomas. The boy gasped.

“Yes Daniel, look into my eyes. I want my face to be the last thing you see in your pointless, miserable life,” Thomas said, his expression filled with years of pent up anger and aggression.

“Ge-get behind thee, Satan,” the child mustered, tears spilling down his face.

“No, I’m not Satan, Danny. Satan is a myth. I’m a reality, I’m Venom,” the man said, raising a fist and bringing it down on the child’s head. It gave a sickening crunch as the body trembled from the sudden blow.

Thomas’ face disappeared as Venom’s mask once again took shape. “Good, now that my business is finished it’s time to move out of this city. I’m thinking maybe LA, we could make a killing in the mob business,” he said, a devious smile across his face.

That smile soon faded when the suit once again froze, preventing him from making a getaway.

“What’s going on? Come on, we need to get going,” Thomas said, showing the first bit of concern since he encountered the symbiote.

After a moment, the suit began to morph again as Thomas fell to his knees screaming in pain. Soon, the suit was making its own getaway, leaving behind Thomas Clairbourne, who desperately shouted at the alien.

“What the hell was that? We were just getting to the good part,” a voice said, its rage evident.

“I was showing you who’s really in charge. You’ve existed all this time, thinking you were alone, and for a time you were. But now I’m here, and I’ve taken control,” the other voice said, not phased in the slightest by the other voices anger.

“You’re in control?” the other voice replied, chuckling at the thought. “And what do you plan to do now that you’re in charge?”

“I’m taking us back to Eddie Brock. With my guidance, he can become the hero you never allowed him to be.”

“Brock is weak, just like you. I refuse to spend my time on punk bastards like him,” the voice replied defiantly.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter,” the other voice responded.

“Hold up, there. Why go to Brock now, give me one more chance, I’ll even let you pick out the host.”

The other voice was silent for a moment before finally speaking. “Alright, but if you fail, I don’t want to hear your voice again. I want full control.”

“Deal,” the voice said, almost instantly

A loud blast emanated from one of the many harbors in the Los Angeles area as a man dressed in purple ordered his group of robots to take everything locked inside the nearby warehouse. The man’s face was hidden by a violet helmet that held on his matching cape.

“Go my creations, we need everything in this warehouse, the world will soon fear the name of the Masked Marauder,” the man proclaimed as the robots packed the different boxes into the boat that they arrived on.

Hiding in the shadows nearby, the Venom symbiote watched the events transpire, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

As the Masked Marauder continued to watch his robots he felt a sharp pain along his spine which brought him to his knee, screaming in agony.

“Hello, Frank Farnum,” a voice spoke to the man.

Soon, the Marauder’s costume began to change, his suit became black with a white spider symbol on front and back. His helmet and cape became a dark shade of gray as Venom took a hold of the man.

His army of robots stopped their current actions to draw their weapons on the new being, unsure what happened to their leader.

The Marauder held his hands up to the robots, laughing manically as he did so. “Hold your fire, my minions. I have merely changed my appearance, for the better. With the help of my new upgrade, our war on the heroes shall finally begin.”

The robots returned to their work after Marauder’s speech, leaving him standing there again watching over his robots, his mind going through different scenarios on how his new powers could vanquish different heroes.

Suddenly, the Marauder lost his ability to move and once again a sharp pain crept through his body. He fell to all fours as the black and gray that had enveloped him left, the purple and violet of his original outfit returning.

The robots once again stopped what they were doing, looking over to their fallen master but also noticing a blob of pure black making its way out of the area.

“Don’t just stand there you fools, go after it!” the Marauder ordered between heavy breaths, he wasn’t about to let a weapon that powerful get away.

The robots ran after the symbiote but they were too late as it had already disappeared, hitching a ride underneath a speeding taxi.

“Are you serious? That guy was a joke and you knew it,” a voice said, angrily.

“You told me to pick a host for you, I did. It’s not my fault you couldn’t do anything with him,” another voice replied, calm as always.

“That’s not fair and you know it!” the other voice yelled, mad about being beaten at its own game.

“And what do you know about fair? Regardless, I think it’s time you kept your end of the bargain and shut up.”

“This isn’t over,” would be the last words the voice spoke as it retreated into the ether, silence finally filling the Symbiote’s mind.

Now it was time to find Eddie Brock, then the real test would begin.