New chapter!
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That day, Fisherman’s Wharf became the center of the world.
That day, Venom became famous in an instant.
To the public, he was not a hero.
He was not even just a monster.
He was a demon from hell.
The image of him slaughtering and devouring twenty-four alien creatures burned itself into millions of minds.
Evan did not care.
After Venom ate the last symbiote, he dropped from the crane and left the Wharf before the city could close around him.
Back in the rented room, Evan had just changed clothes when Peter’s voice came from the hallway.
“Ev, I’m back.
Brought pizza.”
Evan opened the door.
Peter stood there with a pizza box in both hands and exhaustion all over his face.
No surprise.
He had spent the day fighting Evan without knowing it.
Evan smiled, accepted the box, and thanked him.
“Peter, maybe you should stop taking shifts for a while,” Evan said.
“Focus on school.
I can figure out money for both of us.”
Peter had helped him again and again.
Evan wanted to repay some of it.
Peter blinked, then smiled softly.
“Thanks.
Really.
But no.
Take care of yourself first, okay?”
Then he went back to his room.
Evan closed the door and immediately climbed out through the window.
“Venom, find somewhere quiet.
I need to digest the life force in me.”
“On it.”
Twenty-four symbiotes in one day had poured an enormous amount of life force into him.
He needed space to absorb it.
Doing that in the apartment risked noise, damage, and questions he did not want.
With Venom covering him, he crossed the city and reached a nature preserve with a stretch of dense trees.
Venom plunged into the woods.
“Here,” Evan said.
“This works.”
Evan resumed control, sat cross-legged beneath a large tree, and let the life force wash through him.
The first time, it had knocked him unconscious.
This time, the pain did not come the same way.
The energy moved like a stream through his limbs, bones, muscles, and organs.
Not gentle, exactly, but purposeful.
Like his body finally knew what to do with it.
Green light began to glow from his skin in the dark.
Thin, threadlike tendrils of green energy extended from his body and slowly wrapped around him.
Within minutes, a green cocoon formed over his skin.
“Uh,” Evan said, staring down at himself.
“What exactly is this?”
“I think your body is entering its first real evolution,” Venom said.
“Don’t ask me for details.
Human evolution is not my department.”
Evan’s eyes sharpened.
Evolution.
It was a word worth staying awake for.
He wanted to know what would change when he came out the other side.
Then his eyelids grew heavy.
A deep exhaustion dragged him down, and he closed his eyes.
The next morning, the entire nature preserve was wrapped in police tape.
Beyond the cordon, officers held back residents, reporters, and people with phones lifted high.
“Oh my God,” someone whispered.
“It’s a miracle.”
They were staring at the forest.
The day before, the trees had been ordinary.
Now they had doubled in height overnight, rising into the sky like a patch of ancient wilderness had been dropped into the city.
The trees were not the strangest part.
According to the first people who noticed the change, the small animals inside the preserve had changed too.
Birds, raccoons, squirrels, anything that had slept too close to the center had grown into something massive.
People kept filming.
Then a piercing shriek split the morning.
A violent gust rolled over the crowd.
The sky darkened.
Everyone looked up.
A bird the size of a small aircraft passed overhead, its wings beating hard enough to bend the treetops.
The wind came from its wings.
The shriek came from its throat.
For several seconds, the crowd could only stare.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.