Venom

FIFTEEN: Maisie Kasady

Carnage stabbed Venom in the arm before he could successfully pull Carnage and Kasady apart. Venom just cut Carnage's arm off and used it to try to cut Carnage in half. However, Carnage just hopped out of the way and cut Venom's feet out from under him. Venom managed to grow his feet back before Carnage tried tearing him apart. He pushed an unconscious Eddie to the ground and held him there with his foot before turning to Venom and getting ready to eat him.

"M...Mr. Brock?" Maisie started, mustering the strength to finally sit up. She pulled her knife out of her back pocket, along with the gun that she had stolen from Kasady. She quickly hobbled over to where she heard the fight happening before shooting Carnage in the back, then stabbing him in the open spot that the bullet left, which led directly to Kasady's lower back. Since the knife was out of Carnage's reach, he couldn't remove it in order to heal Kasady. So, he dropped Venom and turned on Maisie.

"You little brat!" Carnage shouted angrily.

"You can't catch me!" Maisie yelled back before sticking her tongue out at Carnage. Then, she ran off, leading Carnage away from Venom and Eddie in order to give Venom and Eddie time to bond and heal again.

Carnage quickly and unhesitatingly chased Maisie deeper into the forest. She stopped at the bottom of a really tall oak tree and grinned.

"Come and get me, Gene Simmons!" Maisie taunted, referencing the KISS member. This seemed to enrage Carnage even more, and he started chasing her again. She smiled and started climbing the tree, knowing that it could possibly be tall enough to kill Kasady due to the fall. Once they both reached the top of the tree, Maisie kicked Carnage off of the tree so that he'd fall to the ground and land on the blade in his back. However, Carnage turned his arm into a sword and impaled Maisie in the stomach before pulling her down with him.

Carnage landed on his back on the ground, just as Maisie had predicted. The force of the knife going deeper into Kasady's back and the fall was enough to slowly kill him. Since Kasady was presumably dead, Carnage would need to find a new host.

Maisie was still struggling to stay alive when Eddie finally caught up to her. She smiled when she heard him, because she knew that meant that he and Venom were okay.

"Kid!" Eddie shouted before sitting down next to Maisie, who was now grinning so widely that her eyes were pinched closed.

"Hi...Mr. Brock," Maisie said. "W-What's up?" She attempted to add nonchalantly, as if she hadn't fallen from a very tall tree with a sword in her stomach. Eddie chuckled sadly and picked Maisie up, carrying her like a baby. "Why can't I feel the ground?!"

"Calm down, kid. I'm going to the closest place with phone service so I can call an ambulance," Eddie explained. That's exactly what he did. The ambulance arrived three minutes later, having to revive Maisie in the ambulance because her heart had stopped a minute before they got there.

Later, at the hospital....

"Eddie?! What the hell happened?! Is everything okay?!" Anne questioned, running in the sliding doors to the hospital, alone because Dan was working.

"Everything's fine. We had a pretty scary ride here, but everything's fine now," Eddie explained.

That's an understatement.

"Can you not be quiet for two seconds?" Eddie asked with an annoyed expression that matched his tone.

"Is it Venom again?" Anne asked with a slight smile. Eddie nodded and rolled his eyes.

"It's always Venom," Eddie remarked.

Screw you.

"You would," Eddie retorted.

I hate you.

"The feeling's mutual, pal," Eddie remarked. Suddenly, a doctor approached them. Anne chuckled, not having a clue what the two were arguing about now.

"Are you Maisie's parents?" The doctor asked. Eddie looked at Anne for a moment, and she smiled.

"He is," she responded, pointing at Eddie. Eddie gave a half smile.

"Well, she's semi stable at the moment, but many of her organs were severely damaged, so we'll likely need a transplant for a few of them, such as her heart, which was damaged during the fall and how many times we tried to revive her. She'll survive for now, and I'll put her on the waiting list," the doctor explained.

This is bad...

"I know," Eddie agreed with a nod as the doctor walked away.

"Eddie, you don't have enough money. How're you going to pay for this?" Anne questioned.

"I can pay," someone behind them replied. Anne and Eddie turned around to see Dora Skirth.

"Dr. Skirth? I thought you were dead," Eddie admitted bluntly.

"I thought so, too...for about three minutes, until I realized that I actually wasn't in hell," Dr. Skirth joked with a slight smile. Eddie chuckled.

"You might as well be," he replied.