Cole hurriedly walked down the forest surrounded street, making sure to take a glance behind her every so often to see if she was being followed or chased but luckily she wasn't.

After the news report from the diner, Cole immediately got out of there before they could even try to catch her although Venom had other ideas on getting rid of them which made Cole's escape even more vital as to not hurt anyone.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! They probably called the cops or the military or..." Cole was about to say but Venom finished for her.

"Or Carlton Drake." Venom stated as Cole grew angry from just his voice.

"Just shut up! All of this is your fault! My life was already bad enough without you but now I'm the most wanted person in the god damn country!" Cole shouted.

"Oh, cry me a river. You're the one that broke into the lab, you're the one that wanted the truth." Venom said as he formed his face in front of her "Well this is it, Cole. Truth hurts, doesn't it?"

"Why me? Why do I have to be your ride?" Cole asked.

"Don't flatter yourself Cole." Venom stated with a grin "You just happened to be at the right place at the wrong time."

"So that's it huh? I get you to that stupid rocket and then what?" Cole asked.

"I get off this ball of dirt." Venom answered simply.

"And what about me?" Cole asked.

"You can kill yourself for all I care. I just need you alive right now and that's it." Venom replied and Cole glared at him "Speaking of keeping you alive, watch your back."

Cole turned around to see a car approaching, no, a bus approaching them as Venom merged back into her body. It was a black minibus that looked old, worn out and even half the license plate was missing with only the words 'DOOM' left.

"It's the bus from the diner..." Cole muttered, remembering that she had seen it parked in the diner but hadn't paid much attention to it.

"It's the shitty bus from the diner." Venom rephrased and Cole rolled her eyes.

"What do we do?" Cole asked, seeing that the bus was getting closer "Do I run?"

"What!? No! Let's feast!" Venom shouted.

"There will be no feasting! You've killed enough people!" Cole shouted.

"There will never be enough people, you should know that by now! Let us feast!" Venom shouted.

"No! No more eating people! We just book it on three." Cole said.

"What!?" Venom shouted.

"One..." Cole started counting as the bus got closer and started honking at her.

"Stop being such a pussy, Cole! Let's rip them to shreds!" Venom shouted.

"Two..." Cole counted, ignoring him.

"Don't you dare run! I'm warning you!" Venom shouted.

"Three!" Cole exclaimed, starting to run but before she even could, her body froze and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move "W-what the hell!? What's going on!"

"I'm taking the wheel; you're clearly not thinking straight." Venom stated, turning Cole's body to face the incoming bus.

"I'm not thinking straight!? Killing people is what got us in this mess to begin with! You're just going to make everything worse!" Cole shouted but no matter how hard she tried to move, it didn't work.

"I forgot the part where that's my problem." Venom started as Cole's left eye became fully black and her veins were also darkening with a black fluid.

The bus reached her and stopped next to her, doors opening to reveal a very weird sight. Driving the bus was a man of average height with bandages, bandages wrapped around his entire body that hid any semblance of his appearance. He wore black sunglasses to cover his eyes, a green sweater, grey pants, black boots, a brown fur coat and black fingerless gloves.

"Hi there." The man greeted with a friendly wave.

"Uh...hi?" Cole greeted as her left hand shot up but she grabbed it and held it down as well as shutting her left eye.

"A friend of mine said you needed a ride." The man said to her.

"Won't you join us Cole?" The familiar voice of Niles asked from the back of the bus.

"I'm Larry by the way." The bandaged man, Larry, added.

"Kill them." Venom stated.

"Shush!" Cole whispered angrily as she looked at the man "A ride to where exactly?"

"Wherever you need to go." Niles said from the back.

Larry nodded "Better than walking."

"He's not wrong..." Venom muttered.

"What!? You just wanted to murder them a second ago!" Cole whispered angrily.

"That's still on the table." Venom said.

"Fuck the god damn table! How do I know that you won't kill these people!?" Cole exclaimed but still kept her voice hushed.

Larry looked at Niles who just shrugged at him then looked back to Cole as she had her self-conversation.

"Fine! On my mother's life, I promise I won't kill these people." Venom stated.

Cole scoffed "I still don't trust you."

"I swore it on my mother Cole, I'm very serious about my mother." Venom stated seriously "And we'll feast on them if they try anything."

Cole sighed "I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?"

"Is that a yes to the ride?" Larry asked.

Instead of responding, Cole just entered the bus and saw Niles smiling at her. He gave her a short wave as she sat on one of the seats in the middle.

"Great, we let a weirdo on the bus." Larry said as he shut the doors and started driving whereas Cole gave him a perplexed look.

"Full disclosure, Cole. I don't have a mother." Venom stated as Cole's eye twitched in anger and he laughed.

~

Carlton Drake stood in front of the broken glass of the woman that had the escaped symbiote within her. He watched as two employees swept up the glass shards while the woman's body was carried away on a stretcher by two guards.

He walked away from the site and up towards his office. The two guards posted by the door quieted down and stood at the ready upon seeing their boss.

"Mr. Drake." One of them greeted.

"No interruptions, please." Drake requested and the two guards nodded as Carlton entered the office and shut the doors.

He took off his blazer and tossed it aside while walking past the desk and towards the bookshelf. He removed one of the books from the shelf and pressed the button that was covered by the book.

The bookshelf parted as cold steam exited the hidden room as Drake rolled up his sleeves and entered the room.

The room was all white with computers and lab equipment connected to the sides. In the center stood a podium that carried a mechanical container and the glass of the container had fogged over from the cold temperatures of the room.

Drake paid no mind to the cold as he approached the container, touching the glass with a cold stare.

Suddenly a silver symbiote shot forward and warped to try and surround Drake's hand but the glass stopped it from doing so. The fog within the glass faded to reveal the whole silver symbiote riving and warping within the container as Drake smirked.

~

Later that afternoon, the bus stopped in front of the McDonalds where Cole and Dora had their little meetup. The doors opened and Cole stood up, heading to the exit but she was stopped by Niles.

"Ms. Winters." Niles called out and Cole turned to look at him "Do consider my offer. I assure you that it is quite life changing."

"My life has changed enough." Cole replied, leaving the bus.

"He's right you know." Larry said to her "It's life changing...for the better."

Cole stared at him for a moment before she responded "Thanks for the ride, Larry."

Larry sighed "See you later, Cole."

The doors to the bus closed and it drove away. Cole watched it drive off into the city and make a turn, disappearing from view.

She turned to look at the parking lot and spotted her car, running over to it but keeping her head down to not be recognized. She unlocked the car and got inside, sighing in relief once she picked up the notebook. She opened the glove compartment and started looking through it.

"We got the number but it's useless since we don't have a phone." Venom said to her.

"Not exactly." Cole replied as took out another phone from the glove compartment "I always keep a backup just in case."

Cole tried to switch on the phone but nothing happened which added to her frustration.

"Fuck!" Cole exclaimed angrily.

"What's wrong?" Venom asked.

"The battery's dead." Cole responded "I must've kept this thing in here for way too long. Long enough for the battery to die."

Venom scoffed "Some backup."

Cole rolled her eyes "Instead of making snide comments, try coming up with some ideas."

"Just charge it." Venom said.

"I would if I could but I don't have a car charger and the only phone charger I've got is at..." Cole stopped talking as she sighed tiredly "My apartment."

"Oh..." Venom muttered, having seen Cole's memories.

"Yeah..." Cole said with another sigh, starting the car "But we've got no other choice."

"...I can eat her if you want." Venom suggested.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Cole said with an amused smile as she pulled out of the parking lot and drove towards her apartment.

~

"Yeah, I know. It's crazy to think she'd ever do such a thing." Maria said on the phone as she walked back to the apartment from work. She giggled after hearing what the person on the phone said "I mean; I wouldn't exactly say I dodged a bullet. I just wish she would've found out in a better way, y'know?"

By now, Maria reached the apartment and a surprising sight had caught her eye. From the dozens of cars parked along the side, she could recognize one of them being Cole's and it was right in front of their apartment building.

"Hey uh, Harry, I'll call you back, kay?" Maria asked as the person on the other line said a few words "Alright, love you."

She ended the call and dashed into the building, taking the stairs rather than the elevator to save time and hopefully catch up to Cole.

She ran up the stairs and past multiple floors but eventually reached her floor, bursting through the doors and running to the apartment. Upon reaching the door, she reached to open it but it opened and she bumped into Cole who had changed into another shirt and a black hoodie.

Maria gasped "Cole..."

Cole remained speechless upon seeing her but she soon snapped out of it aimed to walk past her but she stopped when Maria grabbed her hand.

"Cole, please. L-Let's just talk." Maria begged.

Suddenly Cole twisted around and grabbed her by the neck, slamming her against the wall.

"We have nothing to talk about!" Cole shouted, her voiced mixed in with Venom's.

"C-Cole...you're hurting me!" Maria cried.

Cole blinked and let go of Maria, who fell to the floor while coughing and holding her neck. Cole started backing away in state of shock at what she had just done, looking at her arms and seeing them pulsate and turn black.

"I-I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." Cole apologized.

Maria coughed as she looked up at Cole "W-what happened to you? Y-you've changed."

"I know." Cole replied, running off through the stairway.

~

It was now night time and many were at home, leaving their businesses closed and abandoned, one prime example being the Life Foundation offices within the city.

Cole drove up to the empty building and exited the car, looking up at it with wary eyes.

"This is the place." Cole said.

"Something's off about this place." Venom said.

"Yeah, well, it's the Life Foundation. Nothing surprises me about this place anymore." Cole said.

"We should go. We'll find another way to the rocket." Venom said.

"Look who's being the pussy now." Cole said, shutting her car door "Dora told us to meet her here because she can help us, a weird feeling about a building shouldn't matter right now."

"It's not a weird feeling. It's a sense." Venom stated.

"Just keep your weird senses to yourself." Cole said, walking into the building "Dora!"

Cole looked around for her until she heard the sound of heels and she saw Dora approaching her with her ever so nervous demeanor.

"H-hello Cole." Dora greeted.

"Hey, you okay?" Cole asked, noticing that she was even more wracked than before.

"I'm fine, just tired..." Dora said, nervously glancing around "Did you come here alone?"

"I wish. Having an alien stuck to you is not as glamorous as one might think." Cole replied.

"Being stuck to an alien isn't any better." Venom retorted.

Cole scoffed "You're the alien."

"Not from my perspective." Venom replied and Cole rolled her eyes.

Dora watched as Cole spoke to herself and widened her eyes in shock.

"Y-You've bonded with the symbiote?" Dora asked.

Cole sighed "Unfortunately."

"That's impossible...unless your body is somehow compatible with it..." Dora muttered and she looked at Cole frantically "Cole run! Now!"

"What? What's going on?" Cole asked.

"I'm sorry, Cole! I was forced to!" Dora stated.

"What-" Cole was about to ask but then spotlights from the upper floor railings shined down on her and multiple armed soldiers rushed out from the shadows with their guns aimed at her, red dots covering her entire body.

"Oh shit..." Venom muttered.

"Hands in the air!! Now!!" One of the soldiers shouted.

Cole raised her hands with a glare sent towards Dora "Venom..."

"What is it?" Venom asked.

"It's time to feast." Cole stated and Dora widened her eyes to see Cole start smirking while showing off her sharp canines as both her eyes fully became black with black veins surrounding them.