Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

On the south side of Chicago, a trucker is ambushed by some thieves who are attempting to steal his truck. However, he is saved by the Venom symbiote as it has been hitching a ride in an attempt to get back to its host after they have been separated.[1] The symbiote bonds to the truck driver and slays the thieves before leaving the frightened truck driver behind.

Meanwhile, in the abandoned factory where the five Life Foundation created symbiotes are holding Eddie Brock, one of the symbiotes -- Leslie -- wonders how her life could have gone so wrong that she ended up bonded to an alien creature and hanging out in an abandoned factory.[2] As she looks at her face in the mirror, Leslie doesn't notice someone with a knife sneaking up behind her. As she is fatally stabbed in the back her last word is the name of Eddie Brock. Later, the symbiote known as Carl bursts into the room where they have Eddie Brock contained in order to force him to help them learn how to control their symbiotes. However, Eddie and Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis has escaped in the middle of the night. As the two men flee, Ken Ellis can barely keep up with Eddie Brock, even though Eddie is no longer bonded to his own symbiote. When a gang of armed men tries to stop them, Eddie fearlessly lunges into them. Despite this, one of the gang members manages to shoot Eddie in the arm. Before the gunman can kill Brock, Ken hits him over the head with a trash can, allowing them to escape.

At that moment, the symbiotes find Leslie's body, they assume that Eddie Brock has killed her and begins plotting revenge. While at that same moment, the soldiers searching for the symbiote question the truck driver it briefly possessed. He tells them that the whole time it controlled his body, it said the name "Eddie" over and over. When they continue their search, they are unaware that the symbiote has hitched a ride aboard one of their crafts. While elsewhere in the city, Eddie breaks into a warehouse so the pair of them can get to cover. Despite his insistence that they keep going, the loss of blood from his gunshot wound causes him to pass out. Not far away, the other symbiotes have found the gang members that the Eddie beat up earlier. They press onward, with Carl more determined than ever to kill Eddie Brock. As Ken finishes patching up Eddie's wounds the symbiotes arrive in the warehouse. Their leader, Donna, tells them to search for Brock but orders them to keep him alive.

Carl is determined to hunt down Eddie and make him pay for killing Leslie. When he searches through the darkened warehouse, someone ambushes him from behind with a glowing knife. When Carl finds Eddie Brock, he collapses into Brock's arm with a knife sticking out of his back. That's when the rest of the symbiotes find Eddie holding the body of Carl in his arms. Thinking that Eddie is responsible for killing Carl, Donna orders the rest of the symbiotes to kill him.

Recurring Characters

Eddie Brock, Scream, Agony, Phage, Riot, Lasher, Ken Ellis

Continuity Notes

1. Eddie Brock was separated from his symbiote after he was defeated by the Scarlet Spider.

2. These symbiotes are unnamed here. Scream, the red and yellow symbiote is officially named in Civil War Battle Damage Report #1. The others are identified as Agony, Lasher, Riot, and Phage in Carnage, U.S.A. #2.