Demons [Eddie Brock] Venom

30. Ugly

Rory and Eddie were grabbed by guards, Eddie was taken down from the chair he was in. Treece, the most efficient of Drake's men, made sure he had Eddie, and there was a hatred in his eyes. They walked out of the Life Foundation, not once was there an exit for Rory. Her hands were zip-tied and she was being firmly held.

Outside it was cold, but it felt oddly comforting to be in the wilderness instead of within the walls where so many people died. Where Carlton was. She glanced a few times at Eddie, she stumbled twice in the hopes that if she fell they would let go of her, but it didn't happen. She knew that if she got the chance, she would run -not out of anything except self preservation. It was what Eddie wanted, but she wondered if she could really run knowing Eddie would be killed. 

No, she didn't think she could.

"Hey Eddie?" Rory asked. They were a few meters apart now. 

"Yeah?"

For some reason, she wished he had said her name. She liked the way he said it, Rory. Ror. 

"We've come a long way from strong coffee and bold wine, hey?" She flashed him a grin that could only be seen because the moon was out, shining brilliantly down on the soon-to-be murder scene. Somehow, Rory always suspected Drake would be the death of her, whether he trapped her long enough that she simply threw herself out of the apartment window, or he thrashed her and killed her by accident -he was never physically abusive, not like that, but she wondered if she stay, if he would have become. 

She didn't cower from death now, after these whirlwind of days, she sort of thought it might be easier. But she didn't want Eddie to go; he was so full of life, so full of potential to make big change. Rory didn't have that, and she wanted to see Eddie make those changes in this ugly world. 

"I have a bottle at home, saved for a special occasion," Eddie replied.

"Like surviving execution?"

"I was leaning more towards you moving in for good."

She grinned, then was shoved forward a little harder. Treece told them to shut up, and then Eddie asked. "What are you going to do? Walk us to death?"

"Shut up," Treece said bluntly. 

Eddie turned around, hands raised. He was done with walking, there was no sense in going any further in the woods. Rory stopped walking and looked at him curiously; he was selecting the time and place for his own execution, rather than seeing just for far they would walk. Maybe they would have run into someone, but Rory doubted that. It was late in the night, judging from the moon position and the cold chill in the air. 

"Did you mama not love you?" Eddie asked Treece, then grabbed the gun that was pointed at him and tried to wrench it free from his hands. Treece easily got the upper hand and knocked Eddie easily to the ground. He groaned as he got to his knees. "I guess it pays to be a professional."

"You know, I was supposed to kill her first, to make you suffer," Treece said, shifting slightly so that his gun was pointed at Rory.

"Hey, me first!" Eddie exclaimed. Treece turned the gun back on Eddie; he wanted to kill Eddie more than he wanted to kill Rory. Rory wondered if he even wanted to kill her, then realised he was probably a sociopath who lacked any human emotion. 

"It doesn't matter if you kill me anyway cause there is something way bigger afoot in this world than you and me, much bigger," Eddie said through a strained whisper. From the corner of her vision, Rory noticed a guard was snatched by the same black substance that once was coming out of Eddie. "And it's much, much bigger than you."

"Do you believe in karma?" Treece asked, completely unaware that all the guards, including the one holding Rory, were dead and gone. Two massive hands grabbed his shoulders, and Treece turned to see a giant mouth full of teeth, and then his head was gone in a split second.

Rory shrieked, stumbling backwards and tripping. She landed hard on her back, hands clamping together underneath her. She was getting so tired of these... these aliens! 

The alien, which was blatantly female, walked up to Eddie and kissed him. The kiss lasted a long time, and Rory raised her eyebrows in surprise. The alien began to take over Eddie again, and now Rory had seen it in full. She saw what was inside Eddie now, and then Anne appeared. 

They broke apart from the kiss.

Anne looked around at her surroundings. "Oh no... I just bit that guys head off..."

"I know, I've been there too, it's not fun" Eddie comforted, then his face contorted as though someone was speaking in his head. "Who's Riot?"

"Drake's got his own Symbiote."

"Oh, great," Anne replied sardonically. 

Then, he turned to Rory and leapt over a fall log to her. He helped her up and then used Venom's strength to break the zip-ties. She shook her tired hands to get blood rushing to them again, and then backed up away from Eddie. 

"What is it?" Rory asked, then glanced at Anne. "Hey, Anne."

"He doesn't like it when I call him a parasite, but..." Suddenly Eddie transformed into the alien, and Rory -too exhausted now to react beyond widened eyes- stared unblinking at him, it. It was just like what happened to Carlton, only different, a different alien. 

"I'm Venom," he said to her. "We haven't officially met yet. Eddie thinks about you all the time."

"Get out of there," Eddie took back his body. He grabbed Rory's shoulders and then he embraced her, suddenly realising that though they were alive now, Eddie hadn't been lying when he said there was something bigger afoot; Carlton wanted these things here, and as much as he was starting to like Venom, he did not want more of them. He wondered how much longer they had, if there was a chance at stopping this grand scheme from happening. 

"Eddie, I can't breathe," Rory mumbled through his sweater that was pressed against her mouth. 

He stepped back and brushed her hair back from her tired eyes. "I gotta go back in there, I have to stop Drake."

"Where are we going? I'm coming," Anne said. Then she glanced at Rory. "You're in?"

Venom appeared to be arguing with Eddie. "She can fight ugly. They both can."

"Yeah, I can fight ugly," Anne agreed. 

"If anyone deserves to kill Drake it's her," Eddie bargained, nodding at Rory.

Venom took over, "Not today!" 

He tore off, leaving behind Rory and Anne in the forest by themselves. Anne turned around and shouted at Venom, "Oh that's bullshit!" 

Anne looked at Rory, eyebrows raised. Rory nodded, knowing exactly what she was thinking. They weren't going to let Eddie and Venom do this alone, together they could accomplish far more. Without another word, they began their trek back to the Life Foundation, though they would be far behind Eddie, they both knew they had to be there to help.

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This chapter was kinda hard to write, tbh. I had originally planned this to only be 30 chapters, so it will be coming to an end soon! I will write to the end of the film, but I won't be writing too much after the end. Comment your thoughts!