Everybody says ["I don't want to die alone"]. But in my experience, push comes to shove... it isn't the "alone" part people want to avoid. It's the dying. 
Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
- FBI
- Special Agent Claire Dixon
- Eddie Brock
- Agent Skeates (Death)
- Agent Wilkes (Death)
- Agent Hanks
- Agent Clemens
- Unnamed agents
- U.S. Air Force
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- U.S. Army (Mentioned)
- NASA (Mentioned)
- Aelfric the Mad Monk (Mentioned)
- He Who Sleeps (Chthon) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- United States of America
- West Virginia
- Grey Ridge Mine
- Drift Nineteen
- FBI Command Center
- Shaft One (Mentioned)
- Drift Seventeen
- Drift Sixteen
- Vertical Access Tunnel
- Executive Office Building
- Grey Ridge Mine
- West Virginia
- Afghanistan (Mentioned)
- United States of America
- Hell (Mentioned)
Items:
- Carnage Symbiote
- Miniaturized Sonic Cannons
- Darkhold
- Godstone
Synopsis for 1st story
In one of Grey Ridge Mine's tunnels, an FBI agent lies with his back against the wall, unable to move his legs. He tries to radio his team using his headset, pleading for anyone to come find him and that he doesn't want to die alone. Carnage pounces on him, remarking that everyone says that but that it's not the "alone" part people want to avoid, it's the "dying" part.
Aboveground, Claire Dixon, Manny Calderon, Eddie Brock, and Barry Gleason view the footage of the agent's death, recorded forty-five minutes prior via a CCTV camera in a shaft called Drift Nineteen. Manuela asks where that is, and Gleason replies that's a good two-hundred feet below-ground. As Gleason expresses sympathy for the Agents trapped with Carnage, Eddie remarks that it's not Cletus Kasady they need to worry about but the Carnage symbiote. Gleason explains that the sonic cannons opened a fissure into a played-out section of the mine and there's no way of determining where the lost agents are now. Dixon angrily confronts him, saying he assured them that couldn't happen and now she has nine dead agents on her ledger. Eddie quips that ten agents are dead, causing her to snap at him to shut up. Dixon seethes that if she finds out that Gleason was responsible for this incident in any way, but she's interrupted when an agent says they've located Colonel Jameson and his team at the bottom of Shaft One, in Drift Seventeen. Dixon contacts Jameson, telling him where Carnage's last known location was, but Manuela spots something in the feed of a CCTV camera in Drift Sixteen. Carnage suddenly leers into the camera before destroying it, and Dixon relays the new intel to Jameson.
In the tunnel, Jameson stares at his hand and checks the base of this throat, muttering that it can't be possibe; and when an agent asks what's wrong he says that an old injury's flaring up. The power suddenly cuts out, and Dixon sends Manuela and Eddie to find out what happened. Jameson's team finds the mutilated body of one of the agents; while Manuela and Eddie find that the power station's control panel was smashed, Eddie remarking that there's a traitor in their midst. Dixon furiously demands to know where Gleason is and dispatches agents to find him. Manuela instructs Eddie on how to bring the power station back online, and when he asks how she knows this she says she made it her business to review the emergency systems. Eddie jokingly calls her an overachiever, but she replies her military mindset causes her to always assess the risks and resources in new situations. Eddie remarks that he knows she's been watching him like a bomb that's about to go off, and she says she read Dixon's file on him. Eddie replies that she should know he's trying to redeem himself from his crimes as Venom. Manuela retorts that she knows Dixon sees Eddie as a weapon and doesn't trust him; and when Eddie asks whether she trusts him, Manuela replies that she trusted the men and women she served with implicitly but that with everyone else trust is provisional. Eddie replies that that's good to know, and that the feeling is mutual.
The power is restored enough to activate the CCTV cameras, and Dixon sees that Carnage is rapidly closing in on Jameson's team. In the tunnels, Jameson's team check their radios but hear nothing except static and dead air. Jameson asks Agent Skeates if he's got anything, but Carnage steps out of the darkness and quips that Agent Skeates is tied up at the moment. Jameson and his team open fire with the sonic cannons, causing the tunnel to cave in. Aboveground, Dixon asks why they couldn't reach them and is told that the deeper they go the more the mineral deposits interfere with the signal. Eddie and Manuela arrive and the team sets out, Eddie asking Dixon if she's activating him. Dixon retorts that she's only activating him if they encounter Carnage and even then only as a last resort, Manuela protesting that Jameson and his team are in danger. Dixon says that Jameson may not be in as much danger as she thinks, telling Manuela that she didn't bring Jameson in for his combat experience but because he has certain capabilities even he isn't aware of. Dixon's team finds that the aboveground entrance to the mine has collapsed, but Manuela points out an entrance hatch. Eddie makes a reference to Lost, asking Dixon if she'd ever seen it and wondering where she spent the 2000's.
At Grey Ridge Mine's executive building, a pair of agents find Gleason in his office and inform him that Dixon wants him at the command center. Gleason responds that what Dixon wants and that what she'll be getting are two very different things, flipping a switch that floods the room with toxic gas, killing them. Opening a boc and removing a red tome with a gold "d" on the cover, Gleason remarks that Dixon was a useful tool but that her usefulness is ending. Removing the tome, Gleason says that the agents' sacrifices have helped bring about a new age once "He Who Sleeps" awakens.
In a tunnel in the depths of the mine, an agent asks Colonel Jameson if he's alright as he doubles over coughing. Carnage crawls towards them along the roof of the tunnel, remarking that while he was having fun it's starting to get boring. The agent pleads with Jameson, saying they need to escape, as Carnage demands to know where Manuela Calderon is. As Carnage grabs the agent with tendrils and interrogates him, Colonel Jameson lets out a bestial snarl - transforming into a werewolf-like beast with a glowing red crystal at the base of his throat - and states that Manuela isn't there but that maybe he can help him. Carnage demands to know who Jameson is, and the werewolf-like beast replies that he used to be John Jameson but that now Jameson isn't there, introducing himself as Man-Wolf as he lunges.