Venom: The Hunger #3
Love and Death
With his alien symbiote murdering innocent people and eating their brains, Eddie Brock has broken out of a sanitarium to track down the creature and stop its murder spree. After purchasing the weapons and gear he will need to go face-to-face against the symbiote, Brock then uses his mental link with the monster to follow it into the sewers below New York City. Deep in the sewers, Brock is easily startled by a rat and nearly blinds himself when roasting it with his flame thrower while still wearing night-vision goggles. Removing the goggles, Brock comes across a dead body and realizes that it was left by the symbiote and that their mind-link works both ways. Suddenly, his mind is flooded with memories of the symbiote's most recent kill. It had ambushed a trio of police officers who were working over a man they are questioning. The symbiote killed all three of the officers, however, it didn't stop there either. Still unfulfilled, the creature also killed their victim. That man is the body that the symbiote left Eddie to find in the sewers. Disgusted by the horrific images, Eddie Brock presses forward. As he moves through the sewers he discovers that the connection between himself and the symbiote is getting stronger the closer he gets.
As Eddie continues his hunt, he is unaware that his progress is being tracked by Doctor Thaddeus Paine, who intends to take possession of the alien symbiote and learn its biological secrets. By this time, Eddie Brock can sense that his other is stalking him and activates the timer on a bomb that he has strapped on his body. When the symbiote leaps out of the shadows, Eddie tries to roast it with his flamethrower. He surrounds the creature in a ring of fire and discovers that the symbiote has become so savage that it may not remember who he is and what connection they once had. As if in answer to this, the symbiote tries to consume Eddie, but he has covered himself with bug spray, something that the symbiote finds disgusting and it quickly spits him out. He then disorientates the symbiote with "screamers" that emit high pitch sounds and a phosphorous flare. With the creature on the ropes, he assures it that he just wants to help. He then gives the symbiote a canister full of the brain chemicals that it craves. Sure enough, the symbiote gobbles it up and becomes placid once again. Tamed once more, the symbiote wraps itself lovingly around Eddie as he assures it that he will look after it once more.
However, before they can fully bond again, both are knocked out by sonic blasts from Doctor Paine and his assistants.
Recurring Characters
Eddie Brock, Dr. Thaddeus Paine