Chapter 3: New Earth 2

That's just…

All these alien memories were coming together in a rather improbable picture. Something about as incredible as rebirth after death in the body of an alien, but on Earth…

This creature… I remembered something similar.

A symbiote from a fairly popular comic book series, found in cartoons, movies, and even games. The alien's own memories only confirmed this hunch.

But then again, I wasn't exactly dumbfounded. Becoming a so-called hitman in Venom is not so incredible, compared to the same hit in some other original alien, after death. And, whether it's the physiology of this body, or something else, but the first moments of shock have already passed, and very quickly.

And with that... my own memories seemed to fade. I hadn't forgotten anything, but somehow, I didn't feel the same despair and hopelessness. On the contrary, I even wanted to live! And it seems that I got this desire from the symbiote itself. It was as if the parts of our personalities were mixed together like drinks in a glass. Although, I didn't feel any strong personal changes.

Hey, dog, what are you doing out there?

While I was brooding, my host had already stuffed his belly with the choicest slop and gone to a back alley. The dog's thoughts were rather primitive, so I couldn't really understand what he was thinking. This may be difficult to explain, but I received a clear understanding from the symbiote that the thoughts of a more intelligent being should be easier to read when merging. On the other hand, the animal is easier to take under complete control. And, just for the sake of experiment, I tried to do it.

I now had a better understanding of what I was doing, and I deliberately suppressed the animal's consciousness. His impulses subsided, and they no longer interfered with mine, so I could freely control the dog's body. However, the sensitivity decreased. I could feel the host's body even worse now. The dog itself sank into a state close to sleep, ceasing to perceive what is happening around.

Running through the gloomy, deserted alley, I increased my weight along the way, building up some muscles. My own body is quite interesting. It seems that each of its cells can perform many different functions, be both a sensor and a muscle, and even carry useful substances and nerve signals. Although the whole body of the symbiote is uniform, I can make different parts of my body perform different functions. And now, a large part of my body has started to grow, acquiring the properties of muscles. And this sprawl itself is quite an interesting feature. After the merger, I was able to increase my size several times, although I can't even imagine where all this mass comes from!? I definitely couldn't take it from the dog, just because it doesn't have that much in it.

And now…

After building up my muscles and growing a few more claws and tentacles, I grew to almost two meters, and the mass became much larger. So, where did it come from? Perhaps the symbiote knew about this, but this part of its memories was somehow lost during my rebirth, if this process can be called that. But my body is not only the mass that surrounds the dog's body with a cover. Symbiosis occurs at a fairly deep level. Some of my cells are practically glued to the host cells, fusing with them. Organs, muscles, skin, nerves, everything. That is, I was not only outside, but also inside the dog, not in any part of it, but all over the body.

I was distracted from my new experience by the sound of footsteps, which brought me back to my hidden form abruptly. The monster's large form disappeared into the dog's fur. I wanted to hide so badly that I reflexively changed my own color without even thinking. And because of this, the visible parts of my coat on the dog's body became indistinguishable from its own fur.

The next moment, several bodies tumbled into the alley.

Two men were holding the girl tightly. One of them held a knife to her throat, making her afraid to scream. The other man held her purse in his hand, and with the other hand he freely squeezed the terrified girl's chest under her clothes.

- X!)*; №!X №; ()? №

He said something to her with such a greasy, lascivious expression that the girl naturally whimpered. I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. But it wasn't necessary…

Just for a moment, I saw in this girl another victim... who could no longer be helped…

And, if earlier it seemed that all my feelings from the past had faded into the background and subsided, now, without preparation, and as if in a quarry with acceleration, an all-consuming hatred flared up in my soul.

- What?

One of the guys turned around when he heard a hiss.

It was my veil that began to boil with anger. I mean, my body was naturally shaking and bubbling with energy. I felt a surge of power, and I could almost feel the reserve from which the extra mass came. How it began to drain rapidly as my body began to grow.

And the rapists just froze with horror, looking at how an ordinary dog before their eyes began to turn into a huge monster.

- I hate it, - I growled.

To do this, my body formed my jaw and vocal cords. And, taking a step forward, I lifted myself up, becoming visually even bigger, straightening my shoulders. Although my carrier was still a dog, I was already taking on a more anthropomorphic form. Somewhere in my mind's eye, an image of Venom popped up, or that form itself was more familiar to the symbiote, but it was exactly what I was turning into.

The girl opened her mouth in a silent scream. There was an animal horror in her eyes that simply screamed that she was a thousand times more afraid of the very sight of me than she was of any robbers or rapists.

And the guys didn't even react when I reached out to one of them, closing my fingers around his head. My hand was now so big that the criminal's head felt like a small ball in it.

- Noo... - the guy sobbed.

He was so scared…

They were all paralyzed with terror! They couldn't even run away, frozen like rabbits before a boa constrictor.

But then again, I didn't care at all! My fingers tighten in a violent spasm, and I simply crush the man's skull, crushing his head like a rotten fruit. I can feel the bits of his flesh and blood left on my body quickly seeping into me, easing my returning hunger a little.

- Noo... no... - the second man said plaintively.

He felt numb. He jerked back. But I couldn't even keep my feet, falling on my ass.

- Grrahh... - With a vicious exhalation, wisps of flame shot out of my mouth.

Hatred literally burned in me. I could feel the flames of anger rising and spreading through my body. I saw, if I may say so, flames starting to run down my back. And all this anger demanded an outlet. I couldn't even tell if I was thinking like a human at that moment, or if I was showing some new alien traits. I didn't think about it just now. I just picked up the fallen guy and lifted him up with one hand so that our faces were next to each other.

- I can smell your fear... insect ... - A vicious hiss erupts from my mouth, which is full of many sharp dagger teeth.

The guy squeaked something else when I couldn't contain my hatred anymore.

And in one fell swoop, he seized the man's head in his jaws, closing the predatory chasm around his neck, literally biting off his head. It took my body a few seconds to decompose and absorb the piece. …

For a moment, I caught a few images.

It was like I was holding that girl and squeezing her breasts hungrily. And then a powerful surge of fear at the sight of the monster. And my image, imprinted in the brain of the head I devoured.

So, I can see other people's memories… It was just a couple of images, though.

Even though my body didn't need to breathe, I let out a loud sigh. It was more of a psychological gesture of relief as my hatred began to subside. And the flame coursing through my body was extinguished. What is strange, by the way, but the whole essence of the symbiote was as if at a loss. This organism definitely didn't have such abilities before. On the contrary, he perceived fire as a threat. The very sight of flames was associated with pain and heat. Fire is supposed to kill the symbiote, not ... fawn on it. It looks like... it's already my own thing…

Perhaps this is due to the fact that I was literally burned alive?

I look back at the girl:

– You can…

I wanted to tell her that she didn't have to be afraid of me and leave quietly. But ... found an unconscious body. It seems that she just fainted from seeing the scene. I even felt a little guilty. Despite the fact that I didn't even really care that I actually bit off a person's head. I didn't mind the idea at all. I was more concerned with the question of what to do with the girl now. You can't leave her here like this, with all these disfigured bodies. I scratched my chin with my claw in disbelief.

Then he walked over to the unconscious body and reached out, touching the skin on the girl's arm with dark flagella sprouts that began to merge with her body.

- Hmm…

And, for the first time, I felt it…

I don't know how to describe it, but the feeling was understandable. I mean, I know what that means. It was like I was drawn to this body. Not in the sense that... well, she's pretty, I guess. But that's not what I'm talking about. I just felt that as a carrier, she was a much better fit for me than some dog.

So, I quickly decided on my next move.

- Auff... - the dog whined miserably, waking up.

I took to my heels as the entire mass of my body seeped through his flesh and completely left the animal's body, flowing onto the girl's body as she lay there.

Um, I'm sorry…

It was then that I realized that I was receiving a whole range of different information with my whole body. Smell, tactile sensation, even vision to some limited extent, but also taste! And, given these characteristics of my perception, the process of merging with the host suddenly became much more intimate than I expected. It was like I was groping her without asking... almost everywhere! And in order not to feel guilty about this, without creating an external cover, I tried to shrink as much as possible, hiding most of my mass in the "reserve", after which I completely seeped into the girl's body.

And when I get to my feet, I feel a relaxing lightness. Merging with a human felt much better than with a normal animal! Moreover, I didn't notice any signs of body exhaustion. If with a dog I felt that the animal would not survive a long merger, then with a girl this was not the case. Her body could have been in symbiosis indefinitely, according to my senses!

- Oh... I... remember ... - I said in surprise.

However, not in my own voice, and not in the voice of an alien monster. It was the pleasant female voice of the host body. What surprised me was that when I connected to her nervous system, I began to actively perceive fragments of her memories. Not like their own, but like it was with the criminal's head bitten off. The foreign bits of memory were just scraps of information that I could use and learn something new.

- Jessica. - I drawled.

That's the girl's name.

And I also found out where she lives. Even more, when I walked out of the alley and looked around, I recognized the place and could even "remember" the way to her house.

- So, New York... - I look in the direction of high-rise skyscrapers.

America.

And as soon as I thought about it... my thought was triggered in the girl's brain and brought me to an associative connection, awakening the corresponding image from her memory.

Captain America…

A national hero who disappeared during the war.

This is the world. Or something very similar to it.