A/N: Been doing a bit of cleaning with a few stories that I couldn't continue for the time being. So for those who are missing some of the stories that had been taken down, they will make a comeback in the near future.

For now, however, with the upcoming Venom movie opening up in the fall I figured one of my earliest thought out ideas deserved a shot. And with how season 8 of the Walking Dead is nearing its climax, I want to see how people would think of Rick's group having a little extra 'help' with the many conflicts they would be facing after season 2.

For those that clicked on this, I hope your ready. Because this here I'm hoping to make a masterpiece.

Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or Venom.

X

"Everyone's got their thing. Maybe it's a break up. A death. An accident. Whatever it is, you used to be one thing, now...you're something else."

"For countless people, it was the end of the world. The dead coming back to life and eating the living. Society collapsing in on itself. Life it self becoming filled with blood and chaos as survival became an every day struggle."

"But for me? My life changed long before the rest of the world went to shit. Ripped away before rotting corpses skulked around and the number of living people depended on the day. But it was something that allowed me to survive better than others."

"In the end, we all have our own problems. Our own issues."

"Our own...DEMONS."

"Mine just happens to have a whole new meaning to it..."

X

Sophia ran as fast as he legs could carry her, doing her best to ignore the sting from the many scratches she had gotten while running through the trees and bushes around her. The hungry growls and moans of her persurers pushing the young girl to keep moving.

Tears ran down her face, mixing with sweat from all the running and the heat from the Georgia sun high above her. She shouldn't have run into the woods to escape the walker herd on the highway, now she didn't know where she was or how to get back to her group, back to her mom.

Her tiny heart pounded inside of her chest, fear and adrenaline driving her as she did all in her power to escape the undead corpses that were stalking after her, hungry for her flesh.

Climbing over a log and falling to her hands and knees, Sophia scrambled back to her feet and started running again. Praying that she could escape the walkers and try and find her way back.

Instead the ground suddenly disappeared beneath her, the girl so focused on getting away from the monsters behind her that she didn't see that she was running straight toward an embankment until she found herself rolling down hill. Having just the right mind to tuck her little arms and legs, biting her lip when more scratches and cuts marked her skin and tore her blue shirt before she landed on the soft ground below.

Several seconds passed befor Sophia started crying. She was scared, her legs and body ached, and she missed everybody back in the group. Her mom, Carl and his parents, Shane, T-Dog, Andrea, Dale, Daryl, she wished to be with them right now instead of lost and alone somewhere in the woods surrounded by monsters.

She laid there sobbing quietly for a time before a familiar growl was heard nearby. Sophia snapped her head up to see a walker not too far way. Its rotten and decaying skin a sickly combination of yellow and grey with the lips around its mouth missing, showing bloody and broken teeth.

When it laid its cloudy, undead eyes on the girl it growled louder while several other walkers came out from the surrounding trees and shambled toward her.

"No...no..." Sophia whimpered as she tried to get to her feet. Yelping loudly and collapsing back down when her right ankle flared with sharp pain. The walkers drew in closer as the girl began crawling away from them, terror gripping her chest when she looked up and saw more of the undead blocking her off.

She had nowhere to go.

Whimpering as she crawled back until she was against the embankment she had fallen down. Sophia closed her eyes tight, covering her head with her arms in a feeble attempt to stave off the inevitable as the undead closed in on her from all sides.

"Please. Somebody help me!" she said in dispair, hoping beyond all hope to be saved.

Right as the closest walker reached down to take a chunk out of the girl, a bellowing roar echoed throughout the forest a split second before something crashed down onto three of the zombies from above. The impact shaking the ground and causing the rest of the walkers to stumble back and a couple to fall over.

Sophia jumped and opened her eyes, wiping at them and blinking a few times to clear her vision enough to look upon the figure that had appeared infront of her.

They were big, bigger than her daddy had been and even bigger than the other men she had seen in her group and had a lot of muscle like a body builder. They were also covered in a thick, black, oily looking suit that covered them from their feet to their bald head.

But what stood out the clearest was a large white spider that was embroiled in the figure's back. Its eight legs going around their shoulders, torso and hips.

The walkers turned to the new arrival and groaned in hunger as they went after them. The figure raised one of their hands...big hands that had sharp claws on the ends of the fingers and grabbed the walker by the head;

Crunch!

A small explosion of bone and rotten grey matter shot out from between black fingers before the now headless zombie was dropped to the ground. The rest of the walkers converged on the figure who brought back the still blood covered arm and swung around with a heavy backhand that sent three of the undead flying into the trees where they collided with the solid trunks with a series of cracks and splashes as their bodies were violently broken on impact.

The remaining walkers met a similar fate, some of them grabbed and throw through the forest while others were swatted aside as though they were flies. One had managed to get in close and attempt to bite on the figures arm, the suit along the arm seemed to come to life and form a spike that shot up through the walker's mouth and up through its head. The spike retracted, causing the body to collapse to the ground.

In less than a minute, all of the walkers were completely dead. Save for one that laid at the figure's feet attempting to grab their ankle. This was fixed when they raised their foot and brought it down on the zombie's skull, crushing it like a ripe grape.

Sophia looked on in awe as all of the walkers were dealt with, leaving only herself and her savior who still kept their back to her.

"Ex-Excuse me?" she asked, swallowing thickly. "Thank you for saving me from the walkers."

The figure remained immobile, Sophia didn't know if he had heard her or not until he slowly turned toward her...

Sophia's eyes widened to their widest proportions, her mouth fell open and a scream of sheer terror froze in her throat.

The same white spider symbol on the back connected to a similar one on the chest. A pair of white jagged 'eye lenses' looked down at the small girl, but she was more drawn to the large maw filled with dozens upon dozens of razor sharp fangs that looked too big for the mouth to close properly.

Tilting its head to the side, the creature crouched down so that it was level with the terrified child who breathed in short gasps and looked on the verge of passing out at any moment.

"Are you okay?" the beast spoke. It's voice deep and echoing with a slight hiss like a serpent, something a demon would sound like.

Sophia remained petrified, unable to take her eyes off all the teeth that were visible.

Seeing this, the creature slowly moved back while remaining low to the ground. "We mean you no harm, child." it spoke again, hands raised slightly in a non-threatening manner. "You don't have to be afraid of us."

The girl swallowed, still looking pale and unresponsive. Tilting its head again in thought, the creature's head opened up and slithered down into the neck like living water, revealing a very human face that had been underneath. His face was young, looking shy of his 20's with a head of short black hair and light stubble along his jawline. A pair of kind hazel eyes looked at the girl with a small smile.

"It's okay." he said gently. "We're not a bad guy." Sophia blinked and seemed to become less tense. "What's you're name?" he asked in the same tone.

"S-Sophia." said the girl hesitantly.

"Sophia, our name is Alex. We didn't mean to scare you, it's just how we look when taking our full form. And we couldn't let you get eaten by those rotters if we could help it." said the now named Alex.

Looking confused, Sophia winced when her sore ankle flared up again. Getting a closer look, Alex saw the damage that had been done. "It looks sprained. That spill you took down the hill roughed you up pretty bad."

"I...I need to find my group, find my mom." the girl said, looking up at the sky and seeing that it was starting to get darker.

"You won't be able to on that leg." Alex said, his head snapping up and scanning around as though hearing something Sophia couldn't. "More rotters are on the way too. We have a hideout not too far away from here, it'll be safer."

He reached to pick up the girl only for her to shuffle back, obviously still afraid and unsure about him. "Sophia, we swear on our life that we won't hurt you." the claws on the ends of his fingers shrank until they were gone as further proof.

Several seconds passed before Sophia finally nodded, trusting in his kind tone and words and allowing Alex to pick her up and cradle her to his broad chest comfortably before taking off into the forest in a dead run just as more walkers started arriving.

Despite how she felt about her savior minutes before, Sophia couldn't help but feel safe in the large arms that held her. The strange suit he wore was soft, almost water-like, and was very warm, the bizzare comfort had the girl's eyes growing heavy, her exhausion finally catching up with her as she drifted off to sleep.

X

Alex looked down at the girl he was carrying, her soft breathing telling him that she had fallen asleep.

She needed it. All the running she had done and the fall she had taken coupled with being afraid of not only the walkers but of them as well had certainly taken its toll on her.

"What shall we do with her?" his other hissed from within his mind in curiosity.

"We protect her. She said something about finding her group and her mother, when she's feeling better we will help her find them." Alex replied as they continued to run through the trees.

"If they are still alive." commented his other. "There is more dead than living since all of this began."

"That is why we do what we can to protect what is left of the living." Alex said, making sure his little passenger was secured in on of his arms before extending the other into the air.

A line of black, web-like substance shot from the top of his wrist and attached a nearby tree, his body launching into the air as he started swinging through the trees.

The sleeping girl had no way of knowing that this one interaction had greatly changed the events to come in ways no one would have believed.

A/N: Short opening, but the chapters that follow will be a lot longer with the backstory of my character unveiling here and there.

There will be a pairing for Alex later on, I'm just deciding on who it should be for him in the end and you all are more than welcome to send me your thoughts on the matter.

Already working on the update, review and let me know what you think and I'll be sure to make it worth your while.