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Evan’s situation felt a little too much like Spider-Man’s origin for comfort.
Peter had been changed by a radioactive spider bite.
Evan was being changed by too much life force.
He bit into the blanket as his body convulsed.
One moment he curled tight as a fist, the next every muscle locked like a drawn bowstring.
Sweat poured out of him, soaking his clothes in minutes.
Then the sweat turned dark.
Black fluid seeped from his pores, thick and foul-smelling.
If this were fantasy, someone might have called it a brutal metamorphosis.
In reality, it was pain, filth, and the growing certainty that his bones were trying to crawl out of his skin.
“How much longer?” Evan forced out.
His voice came out broken.
“Uh,” Venom said.
“It hasn’t started yet.”
“What?” Evan choked.
“It hasn’t started and it already feels like this?”
He lurched off the bed, stumbled into the bathroom, and turned the shower on cold.
Water hammered over him.
“Now it starts,” Venom reported.
The words had barely landed before something inside Evan woke up.
It felt like a beast slamming through his organs, tearing at his muscles, clawing its way through every nerve.
Evan opened his mouth to scream.
The sound cut off halfway.
Venom took control.
“I’ll handle this,” the symbiote said.
“Your human limits are adorable, but they’re not built for this much life force.”
Black covered him.
Evan did not remember passing out.
When he woke, it was noon the next day.
He lay on the bathroom floor under a shower that was still running.
His clothes had shredded into wet scraps around him.
He looked down at himself.
No claws.
No extra arms.
No glowing skin.
At first glance, his body had barely changed.
He stood and reached to shut off the water.
The handle came off in his hand.
Water burst from the wall like a broken hydrant, spraying the entire bathroom.
Evan rushed out and stared at the piece of metal in his palm for several seconds.
“Venom.
My body…”
The symbiote’s smug voice arrived immediately.
“Awake already?
Good.
We got lucky.
Very lucky.”
“Explain.”
“The excess life force washed through you and accidentally activated some kind of evolution mechanism.”
“Plain English.”
Evan knew enough to recognize when he was out of his depth, but he was not a scientist.
He needed simple words, preferably before the bathroom flooded the apartment.
Venom thought for a moment.
“I devoured three symbiotes.
Their life force triggered your body to evolve.
From now on, if you absorb enough life force, you can keep evolving.”
“You already noticed the strength.
I can give you the number: doubled.
Your overall physical ability has increased by a full one hundred percent.”
“Three symbiotes doubled you.
What happens after thirty?
Three hundred?
It won’t multiply cleanly every time, but the growth won’t be small.
Kid, you’re on your way to becoming a superhuman.”
The tension in Evan’s face loosened.
He closed his fist and punched the wall.
Boom.
The solid surface broke like wet cardboard.
He stared at the hole.
Then he punched again.
Another hole opened.
It took two more strikes before the reality of it settled in.
A slow smile pulled at his mouth.
Then his stomach growled.
The hunger hit so hard it bent him forward.
“I’m starving,” he said.
“I could eat a cow.”
“Oh.
Right,” Venom said.
“Forgot that part.
Since your body can evolve now, it will demand fuel.
Often.
Your hunger may be worse than mine, which is impressive and annoying.”
Evan nodded.
Food first.
Philosophy later.
He got dressed, reached under his pillow, and pulled out everything he owned.
Fifty dollars.
“Come on,” he said.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.