" So." Ruth asked as she kicked a pile of leaves in her path. " Does that mean you can turn me into Venom?"

" Do turds roll in the wind?"

" What type of question is that?!" The teen shot, shooting the symbiote on her shoulder an odd look.

" A genuine one. We normally eat the people we ask before they can answer." Venom stated calmly, as if that happened on a daily basis.

" Well...." Ruth mumbled, bitting the inside of her cheek as she thought of how to answer his odd question. " Sometimes dry turds roll about....if the wind is strong enough...." she announced, throwing her hand in the air as she did so. Venom laughed in triumph, as if some great feat had been accomplished.

" AHHA! We knew it! And the others called us a dumb parasite!"

" Well that was rude of them."

" Yes.....we are still clueless one how we somehow provoked them." The alien huffed. " And after all we did for them...."

Ruth, having seen some of the memories of past hosts, knew exactly why they would name call and only looked down at the ground and chuckled. As the two walked through the woods, the sound of a plane flying overhead filled the vacant area. The small teen stopped, placed a hand over her eyes and watched as it flew above them.

" Huh.....that's not something we see everyday." The burnett stated as she watched it fly into the distance. " Especially in a small town like this."

" That was a quin-jet." The symbiote proclaimed. " They are looking for us.....they'll probably search this town within the week."

" What happens when they find us?"

" They will capture us....and you might not survive."

Ruth rolled her eyes at this and grunted. " All your scenarios end with me dying, and that's super reassuring..."

" Don't worry Ruth. We have a plan."

" Does it involve me dying?"

" We are still working on that part."

" Oh joy" she scoffed as she made their way to the edge of the woods. Once back on the road, Ruth headed back towards the second house on the right, where she lived. Approaching the driveway, and paused.

" So what should we do before they come for us?" She questioned. " Should we get ready to fight or something?"

Venom, who had already re-absorbed himself into her skin, mentally shook his head.

" No, we will stick to our normal routine. Go to school, hang with Emma.....the usual."

" I have no idea what Emma will think of you." Ruth added with a soft chuckle. " She might flip."

" No-one can know about us!! Not Emma, not Carson, not your parents! Not a soul! The less we are known about the better."

" oh.....ok." she replied simply. " Does that mean I leave you at home for school?"

" No. We will go to school."

Ruth scrunched up her face as she tried to think how that would work out, but abandoned the thought and shook her head, causing her hair to fall in her face. Trying to blow it out of her vision, the teen headed for the house she called home and slipped in silently without anyone knowing. Retreating to her room, Ruth dragged herself inside, shut the door, plopped down and curled on her bed with high hopes of falling asleep; She had almost dozed off, but a familiar, low voice filled her small head.

" Ruuuuth....we are hungry!" He groaned in a high voice.

" Can't I sleep first?!"

" No. We need food now"

" But I'm tired Venom!" The teen whined, burying herself under the pillow as she did so.

" Fooood" the symbiote announced. " We need food!"

" And I need sleep." Ruth huffed as she rolled onto her back and sprawled out.

" Well We need food! Get up NOW!"

And against her will, Ruth jerkily stood up and started making clumsy steps towards the door.

" Okay okay! Fine! We'll get something from the kitchen." The teen exclaimed as she fought with the symbiote to regain function of her own legs. " I can get to the kitchen by myself." She huffed, crossing her arms while storming down the flight of stairs.

" We are just making sure we are actually going to the kitchen." The alien replied smugly whilst the teen raspberried at her newly hidden friend. " Also we would rather choose what we eat....we are lucky we are not vegan."

" I'm lucky I'm not vegan."

" Then we are having bacon covered tater tots.....with chocolate!"

" Ew " the teen gagged, followed by a sickened look. " What is up with you and tater tots-"

" -And chocolate." The symbiote interrupted. "Don't forget about chocolate "

" Of course." Ruth sighed as she face-palmed. " chocolate.....with tater tots...."

" Hey don't judge!" Venom snapped sassily. " We know what we like and what tastes good. Tater tots and severed heads are at the top of our list..."

" Well darn." The burnett huffed with a dramatic snap of her fingers. " We're fresh out of severed heads. "

" Then give us the tots!"

" I'm working on it!" Ruth exclaimed as she entered the farm house styled kitchen. Opening the freezer, the burnett retrieved a frozen bag of tater tots along with a pound or two of bacon. Having done that, her country girl switch turned on, and immediately grabbed a large tray, which she dumped part of the bag onto.

" We will need more then that." Venom stated as he emerged from her shoulder. " We will need the whole bag."

" Sheesh." Ruth scoffed as she placed the food in the hot oven. "I'm like 5'1 dude. I ain't going to eat that much."

If he could, Venom would have rolled his eyes, so he flashed her a toothy grin.

" Yes....but now we are eating for like....five fat people...."

" We eat that much?" The teen asked in a semi-distressed voice.

" Well...we like to..." the alien added. Venom's new host only made a weird sound in the back of her throat and turned on the top of the stove, placing most of the bacon in frying pan.

" How am I going to explain this to mother?" Ruth questioned with a dis-heartened tone. Letting out a long, stressed sounding breath, the small teen watched the cooking food in silence.

" Well....we could just....steal more food?" Venom suggested, breaking whatever silence there was.

" You can't go stealing food Venom."

" WE KNOWS THIS RUTH!"

" ...."

"...."

" But why is it so good!" The black alien hissed unhappily as he watched the popping grease of the bacon. Ruth patted his dark goey head sympatheticly but didn't answer and focused on her cooking. When she finished, Ruth carefully but quickly wrapped the tots and laid them on a towel covered plate to cool.

Examining them, Venom stuck out his long tongue excitedly, ready to devour his long waited meal.

" This took you long enough! We almost starved!"

" You wanted the bacon and tots my friend." Ruth snarked, crossing her arms. The two were about to eat, but the.sound of an un-invited friend filled the hallway.

" HEY!!" called the familiar voice of Emma. " WHAT'S COOKING!"

" oh crap...." the teen whispered. " V...you better hide..."