[center]Tears streamed down his face, glistening as they fell; caught in the warm sunset. Eddie had climbed the building twice. He stood perfectly still, staring out over the lesser buildings. Thankfully, the blood he had left behind was just out of his periphery. That's what scared him the most. [color=DEB887]"Ayúdame Dios,"[/color] he whispered, closing his eyes to shut it out, [color=DEB887]"no soy un demonio..."[/color] He knew people were watching him, from adjacent windows. They were the ones who had called the police. Strange, though, that he couldn't hear sirens.

When his eyes closed, the images invaded. Albina's towel. Himself on the bathroom floor. Himself on the concrete, letting out a noise that couldn't possibly be human. Eddie Garcia shook, trembling from his stomach up to his shoulders; like he was caving in on himself. A new wave of tears were coming, demanding that he opened his eyes. He fought it; earning another image. What he had seen, or, rather, what he had seen [i]through[/i]. It was the building he now stood on, painted with a ghostly brush. The walls were nothing more than a window and he had the instinct that he could simply move through, if he so wished. 

 Everything had been ethereal, his vision touched at the edges with a wriggling white. [color=DEB887][i]Maybe I died. Maybe this is Hell.[/i][/color] His eyes opened. In front of him stretched the uneven knot of New Steel City. Old bricks and glass towers. Squalor defined the Bliss Haven cluster. His eyes dropped, his fingers curling. A stretch of gray, a splatter of red. Detritus pushed around by a wind he couldn't feel, even at the height he was standing. People hid in corners they thought he couldn't see; their phones raised to him. [color=DEB887][i]They probably already got their fucking shot of the blood. Of...of me climbing the building.[/i][/color] 

 That was when the door opened behind him. His body tensed and was immediately torn apart. Eddie didn't hear a damn thing. Pain rushed through him, taking parts of his body with it. He was turning with the force of [i]whatever[/i] hit him, hitting the ground; next to shards of bone and the splatter of his innards. Blood too stained what he could see, which was mostly boots. Strangely, though, his mind wasn't on them. Or the gurgling rasp of his bloody struggle for breath.

[color=DEB887][i]It smelled like her. I used it to mop up my blood...after that thing...[/i][/color]

 [color=FFD700]"Beta One, this is Alpha One,"[/color] the guy sounded German, Eddie noted, [color=FFD700]"target is still alive, but incapacitated."[/color] A pause, another shifting of boots and the subtle scrapes of armor. [color=FFD700]"Yes ma'am. Understood. Regenerative properties seem to be lesser than other Subjects. We have time."[/color] Eddie tried to roll, but found that his body simply wouldn't comply. He felt hollow. His rasp became a nightmarish chuckle; crimson spraying with each heave.
 
[color=DEB887][i]I just wanna get out of here. I wanna see Albina again. I wanna get high.[/i][/color]

 How many there were was a mystery. One particular set of boots lingered closer than the rest. [color=DEB887][i]Probably the German guy[/i][/color] It didn't matter. Eddie knew he was fucked. Whatever had hit him was strong and he'd bet that there were guns somewhere above those boots. [color=DEB887][i]Makes sense that they'd hit me with something hard. I jumped off a building twice and I'm still here.[/i][/color] Something shifted, all the boots moving to linger on the edge of his vision. [color=DEB887][i]What's that, man? Some kind of box?[/i][/color] [color=FFD700]"We're going to hit him with a dose. Once that's done, we take him back."[/color] He would've smiled, if his body weren't being rebellious. [color=DEB887][i]Sure, man, I'll take whatever you got. Just hit me with something good.[/i][/color] There was a brief sound that he couldn't identify, a distant pain in his leg signifying that they weren't lying. Immediately, things began to feel heavy; the weight of the world pushing down on him in dull waves. The boots moved in unison, sliding the box toward him.

[color=DEB887][i]Is that a coffin? Oh, fuck.[/i][/color][/center]