The Parasite

Sunset was barely starting to wake up when Carnage was hauling her out of bed and toward the bathroom, rushing her through the usual morning routine of brushing her hair and teeth.

“Geeze, eager much?” she asked around the toothbrush he was using a bit too roughly.

He abruptly surrendered control back to her and she immediately spit out the toothpaste, tossing the brush down and instead fixing her hair, as he had simply ruffled it up. He slid his head out of her side and lifted it up to her level, watching her in the mirror. “I’m starving! Hurry up, our meal awaits!”

“Alright, hold on.” Sunset tossed off her pajama shirt and put on deodorant, and finally headed back into her room to change into jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. She could feel her symbiote practically vibrating with pent up energy as she pulled her favorite boots on, and she briefly felt the magical geode she always wore around her neck. It was as full of magic as always, and she finally straightened up and looked at Carnage. “Okay. Want breakfast before we go? It’s a long trip.” They were going to be traveling on foot. Using her car was far too conspicuous.

“We can have something quick.”

Sunset settled for a banana and a glass of milk, just wanting to take care of her own hunger. Once she was done, she picked up her keys and wallet, but elected to leave her phone in the room.

“Okay, we’ll walk out toward the Interstate, and suit up somewhere out there and follow the road all the way there. You know where we’re going?”

“I’ve studied the directions thoroughly. I will get us there.”

“Then okay. Let’s go.” Sunset was nervous about this, but Carnage was all confidence. Taking down his enemies was a quick and easy affair for him. He hid under Sunset’s skin as she headed out.

Sunset walked quickly, but didn’t see too many people. It was fairly early by Saturday standards; the Sun wasn’t up yet. She took advantage of the darkness to get off campus without being noticed, and after several minutes of walking was within sight of an Interstate that would pass right by their destination.

They found a building to hide behind so Carnage could take over, his skin covering them and lifting them higher, giving them that sleek but strong form that made Sunset feel like a goddess.

She soaked in the power for a few moments and felt Carnage’s glee. Then they were running. At first on two legs, picking up speed and racing alongside the road. Then they dropped down onto all fours, using their arms to propel themselves at even higher speeds.

Sunset had gotten a taste of their speed when heading to the prison, but this was incredible. They were actually keeping pace with the cars on the road. They were going sixty miles per hour!

We’ll be there in no time, they thought smugly.

Then Sunset thought, We aren’t exactly hidden like this.

That’s fine. Once we get out of this city, there are trees along the road. We can hide there. But when there are no trees, we’ll just run. Let them try to catch us.

Sunset began watching the cars just out of curiosity. Carnage’s senses were so acute that even with their attention on where they were running, she could still make out the people in vehicles passing alongside them.

A good number of the early morning commuters just seemed entirely focused on driving, but some were shooting them confused glances, and more than one passenger was outright staring at them. Some even took their phones out.

Nothing to do about that. Carnage just kept running, and Sunset figured the video quality would be pretty grainy in this light. She focused back on the run.

It was exhilarating. They regularly had to pass on and off ramps, which they would usually just jump clear over. For the bigger intersections just off the Interstate, they would simply charge across the road, leaping over cars and laughing as people beeped and floored it to get out of the way.

But finally they were out of the city and their surroundings turned rural, sometimes going for more than a mile before passing an exit. Trees grew up on each side of the Interstate out here, and they ran through them, weaving skillfully between tree trunks, though the occasional smaller tree just got shoulder-checked. Sunset was shocked at how easily they reduced whatever they hit to sawdust.

You should see what I can do to a body when I don’t feel like eating it.

Sunset didn’t at all want to see that, but she got glimpses of his memories anyway and she could feel his amusement at the various horrors he’s carried out against his enemies. He was the most sadistic person she’s ever known and she again regretted allowing him to bond with her, but she supposed that it kept him from bonding with someone much more susceptible to his will. If he wasn’t with her, he could be with someone who just allowed him to run around and kill daily, indiscriminately, laying waste to everything in sight. She knew he had the drive to do that in him. But she was holding him back. As long as he stayed with her, she could protect as many people as possible from him.

They were approaching a small town that sprung up around the Interstate. The trees ended and they were out in the open again. The Interstate rose up onto an overpass, and they stayed on ground level, once again jumping over cars and startling drivers and pedestrians. Dawn was breaking so people could see them much more clearly, and there were screams.

Sunset winced as she heard what seemed to be a car crash somewhere behind them, and hoped no one was hurt.

They’re fine. Onward!

The trip passed with little trouble. At least, nothing that Carnage considered trouble. They were simply going so fast that they were there and gone before people really knew how to react to them.

At one point they had to cross a road to an on ramp, which a police car happened to be traveling along. The officer slammed his brakes as he saw Carnage approaching and started to open the door, and Carnage just grinned and slid across the hood of his car rather than jumping over it.

They heard the panicked shouts of the cop calling for help on his radio, but he didn’t try to follow or shoot at them.

Only a few minutes later, police cars were pacing them on the Interstate nearby, and they could see a helicopter in the distance.

Carnage wasn’t concerned. Sunset was a little nervous, but she trusted the other’s judgment. They could deal with anyone that tried to confront them.

They went through the woods and over lines of traffic as often as they could, evading police cars but unable to shake the copter. It never shot at them though, and odds were no one on it was armed. It simply followed, reporting their location back to the pursuit vehicles.

Sunset suggested they take a more rural route, saying that they could head miles away from the Interstate and then turn back toward the city. Just to lose the heat. Didn’t want their target getting scared and going into hiding.

Carnage agreed. They left the busy highways behind and ran across fields, and spotting a river, they dove into it and traveled upstream. The thumping of helicopter blades approached and then faded, the copter apparently turning to go investigate downstream. Fighting the current was hard, but Carnage had the strength to swim against it, and they traveled across to the other side and climbed onto the bank, briefly shaking off before leaping into the thick cluster of bushes and trees nearby.

They waited there, watching the police copter hover along the river, sweeping its spotlight around, but it couldn’t locate them. After several minutes, it flew away.

Carnage let out a throaty chuckle. “That was easy. Let’s go.” They kept traveling.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. They reached the city in a few hours, and while the manufacturing plant was toward the outskirts, Mr. Whistle had an office in a separate part of the city where he and a sizable amount of employees handled all the business’s administrative matters.

The office was their destination. They did swing by the plant first though, just to take a look at it from a distance. It had a tall fence around it and while the gates were left open, there were guard posts at all of them. Smoke steadily streamed into the air, and there was a faint but sharp odor even from out here.

Carnage snorted. “What an awful smell.”

They headed toward the downtown area. At first Sunset had found it strange that Mr. Whistle’s work hours included Saturday, but apparently he merely made Sunday and Monday his weekend. And even then he was unavailable on Tuesdays for ‘business meetings.’ Which were well documented by the media as golfing trips with fellow businessmen.

Perhaps we should beat him with a golf club. Gotta tenderize him a little before we eat.

Sunset felt bad for laughing.

They stayed suited up even as they tore down crowded sidewalks through the city, causing a huge panic, people rushing to get away from them. Multiple phones came out, some people taking pictures and others calling 911. Carnage allowed it all. They wanted their power to be known.

They moved fast, but didn’t touch any of the bystanders along the way, simply dodging around them. It wasn’t long before they were at the office building and tearing the door open, tossing it behind them and going inside.

The receptionist scrambled back from her desk and hit the wall behind her, screaming in fear as Carnage stalked up to her.

They slammed their hands down on the desk and offered a terrifying smile. “Is Mr. Whistle in?”

The lady was shaking, but stammered out, “O-oh, yes… Yes, he’s here, fifth floor, you can take the elevator and his office will be right there, you can’t miss it!” She was almost hyperventilating.

Carnage ripped her phone out of its plug and tossed it aside so she couldn’t call in a warning, then swept past her to the elevators. “Your cooperation is appreciated.” They punched the up button and waited.

It might have been quicker to use the stairs. But the elevator was offered to them, and they had to admit it was pretty stylish. It arrived quickly and they took it up to the fifth floor. When they entered Mr. Whistle’s office, they found him staring out the window, no doubt wondering about the commotion as people gathered outside the office.

He muttered something about protest groups, and Carnage walked up and spun his chair around to face them. “Actually, they’re worried about me. For good reason.”

“What in the-”

Carnage flung him out of the chair and onto his back, stepping on him just hard enough to pin him but not to hurt him. That part came later. “Shut up. You disgusting little man. You don’t deserve to live after everything you’ve done.”

The other grabbed their ankle and struggled to push them away, but failed to make them budge. “I haven’t done anything!” he protested.

Sunset took over their voice, growling, “You’ve ruined so many lives. Hurt so many good people, gotten them sick, all to line your pockets. You are corrupt and the world doesn’t need people like you running corporations.”

“You… is this some kinda sick joke? Are you just some freak show hired by those… those liberals to intimidate me?!”

They laughed loudly. “This has nothing to do with silly politics. This is about people! About your employees and the world they live in! They don’t deserve to suffer how they have, you could fix all their problems, but you don’t! So we’re making an example out of you.”

Noise behind them indicated that other employees had arrived, someone yelling that they had called the police. Carnage just kept smiling.

“Oh good, witnesses.” They put their foot down and straightened, pulling Mr. Whistle up by the neck and turning to face the door. “This man has done so much wrong,” Carnage stated, giving him a shake. “We’re setting him right. This is what happens to those who destroy this world.” They made sure they could see the light of at least one phone camera recording them, and lifted Mr. Whistle high, dangling him over their jaws.

Laying it on a little thick, aren't you? Carnage asked Sunset.

I want to make sure people know why we did this. I don’t want to be misunderstood.

“Put me down!” Mr. Whistle flailed, kicking them as hard as he could, but it didn’t harm them in the slightest. “You psycho, I mean it, put me-”

“Down? If you say so!” Carnage dropped him right into their mouth, feet first. Even opening their jaws as wide as they could, they had to do some chewing, tearing apart flesh and swallowing before using their hands to cram him down further.

The screaming was music to their ears and their audience panicked, several people breaking away to run. There was retching and sobbing, and Carnage would have cackled if their mouth wasn’t full. Their prey begged between agonized yells and desperate gasps for breath, but no help came. No one dared step into the room.

Carnage snapped through the torso and their meal wheezed and then went silent, lungs collapsing and then being swallowed altogether. Once the heart passed Carnage’s teeth, that was it. He was still and easily swallowed the rest of the way. The fresh meat was a delicacy after going a week without and the taste made them purr with satisfaction.

Licking their lips, Carnage turned to the door and crossed the room in a couple bounds. The few remaining bystanders flinched away but seemed too scared to run. Carnage demanded, “Who’s the second in command?”

There were soft murmurs, and they repeated their question in a much louder voice that seemed to shake the building.

“It’s the vice president!” someone yelped. “Mrs. Shade, she was next to take over the company if something… if something happened!”

“And is Mrs. Shade in today?” Carnage asked.

“I-I think she ran down to the lobby-”

Carnage immediately ran for the stairs, screaming the lady’s name. Many more employees verified she had gone downstairs, and by the time they reached the lobby, nearly everyone had left the building and were gathering outside across the street, while police cars surrounded the entrance.

Carnage stepped outside and immediately had several guns aimed at them.

An officer with a megaphone demanded they stand down. Carnage just examined the situation, determined their weapons to be useless, and called, “Mr. Whistle is dead! His horrendous actions have cost him his life! Let this be a warning to all those who emulate him! Mrs. Shade, step forward!”

The crowd tittered and people looked around, and a woman in a suit cautiously moved toward the front but stayed behind the police line. “What does that monster want with me?” she asked the nearest cop.

He gave her a helpless look, but Carnage heard and moved forward. The cops shouted more warnings, but they ignored it, strolling up to the barricade and saying, “The company falls to you now, yes?”

“Yes?”

“Do not make the mistakes of your predecessor!” They grabbed the front of her suit and yanked her up, baring their teeth so she could see the blood running down from their mouth. “Or you will meet the same fate he did.”

She gulped, going pale. “What do you want me to do?”

“Correct the company's safety violations. Follow proper procedures. Go green. Place people over profits. Do not ever sacrifice employee health for production again.”

“Got it, I'll change things, I promise!”

“Then we're done here.” Carnage was gentle in setting her down. She still immediately backed up against the nearest cop, leaning against him in a daze. Sunset was thrilled at how well this had gone. This will definitely make an impression. She told Carnage they could leave.

He was annoyed at only getting to eat one person in exchange for letting her push her message, but cooperated, turning to go. The cops tried to stop them. Several lashes of their tendrils, and every vehicle and officer was shoved aside, clearing a space for Carnage to sprint out. They scaled a multistory building and began jumping across roofs, easily getting away from the crowd and dropping back down several blocks away, running back toward Canterlot.

They decided to stop at an abandoned farmhouse along the way just so they could hide out and relax for a few minutes. Getting inside the place was easy, and they kicked up a layer of dust as they walked across the floor. It's probably been empty for at least ten years, plants crawling up the walls and cobwebs everywhere. Carnage removed his skin from over Sunset, and she immediately grinned at him. “We pulled it off!”

“Of course we did.”

“No one did anything to stop us, that was so easy!”

“It was. I told you. We're unstoppable, they didn't know what to do to us, it would have been foolish of them to fight and they knew it.”

“Everyone was so scared of us, but... we did a good thing. It's... sad, we probably traumatized the ones who stuck around to watch us eat that guy, but... things will be a little better without him! And those people recording will probably share those videos, everyone will know why we did it, and maybe it'll make an impact!”

“I'm sure you'd be quite pissed if nothing changed whatsoever after all that.”

“Yeah, but come on, who wouldn't change their ways if they knew some big monster would attack them for it?”

“The ones who will inevitably decide this was some big publicity stunt. Propaganda. Whatever you want to call it.”

“True, I guess some people will see it that way. But we'll keep doing things like this. Mr. Whistle was just to start things out. We can get much more obvious scum. We can get governors, congressmen, world leaders even! Leaders of drug cartels and gangs, rapists and child abusers! We can take down people that should be behind bars but aren't. You gotta eat, so the least I can do is give you people who have hurt others, and well... I'm sure one day there won't be anyone left that's worth killing. I still see the overall good in humanity, I want to help people too, I believe in redemption. But maybe by then, we'll be close enough that you can feed on that uh, what did Twilight say... phenylethylamine, huh?”

Carnage scoffed, but kept a neutral voice as he replied, “Perhaps.” Never going to happen.

“So. Yeah! I think we can do so much good together.”

“And you don't feel bad about this? Are you finally learning that the weak links, like that man, deserve to be prey?”

Sunset thought about it, and said, “I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel kinda bad for him. But he was a crook. He had his chance to be a decent person before and refused it. So that was karma catching up to him.”

“Well, this is a welcome change from you crying after we feed. I hope to see more of this side of you. I still find your stances on what's good and bad confusing, but if you're willing to kill, I'm willing to eat! This is working out nicely.”

Sunset was glad to be finding some common ground with the other. She hadn't expected to bond with him over murder, but it was something. She still sometimes got a crawling sensation under her skin when she looked at him, and his lust for power made her wonder if he'd want to go back to enslaving despite telling her he wouldn't, but... they were making this work and she was sure those feelings would pass in time.

She started to reach for her left pocket where her phone often went, then remembered it had been left in Canterlot. She instead just wiped her hand off on her leg as if that was her intent all along, but Carnage immediately called her out.

“No phone. If you want to check the news for what we did, we'll need to get back to the college.”

“Right. Let's head back then.”

They suited up once more and left the house, both looking forward to seeing what the news had to say about this.