SO BAD [MXM] [MAFIA] ✓

26: INFECTED

Skylar's eyes immediately shoot open, tensing up at the loud noise. At first, he thinks it may be another hallucination. Except, he's not the only one who noticed. The thunderous noise is originating from somewhere else in the facility, upstairs. Skylar could be wrong, but it sounds like it may be inside the room they first entered.

A survey of the room reveals Crimson, who has dropped the baseball bat. His eyebrows are pinched together, a frown on his face as he exchanges glances with a couple of his men. Not long after, everyone except Crimson is hastily exiting into the hallway, but he stays frozen. He turns and glances at Skylar, then the bat, with a look of conflict on his features. He only snaps out of it when one of his men calls from the corridor;

"Come on, Boss! I think they're accorders!"

Crimson snaps out of it at that, and a look crosses his face that is completely foreign to Skylar.

Fear.

Then, he's gone, and Skylar is tasked with finding a way out before they come back. Unfortunately, he is quite restrained at the moment. They don't close the door all the way, in their haste to get out, and Skylar spots several people running down the corridor through the small gap. Their footsteps are pounding on the floor, and the gunshots are not stopping, and Skylar is confused.

What was that?

What was that moment he just had? When Crimson was about to beat him to death, that whole train of thought... Ashton... where did it come from?

Now that Skylar is no longer directly faced with dying, he's resorting back to his normal mindset. What mindset did he have before? No fucking clue, that was weird. Like a terminally ill patient thinking back on all their regrets in life or something. What the hell? Why was he suddenly so weirdly sentimental? That was fucking embarrassing.

Skylar can't believe that for a moment there, he thought he and Ashton's relationship was anything more than it is on the surface level. He is face to face with death, and suddenly he's a goddamn philosopher. He's going to do himself a favor and never think about that again.

Skylar's withdrawal must be getting really, really bad. Actually, there's no must about it. That's just a fact, it is getting bad, and at this point he kind of just wants to curl up in a corner and be left alone. He doesn't even have the energy to make it home on his own anymore, he's too weak both physically and mentally. He's exhausted.

Of course, there probably is some cyto in this facility, right? He'd have to go upstairs, though. At least, that's where he saw most containers of product. He really can't do anything strenuous like climbing stairs, and it's honestly kind of sad. He finally has a window to escape, but he lacks the energy to do much more than attempt to remove the restraints. It sounds like it may be too dangerous, anyway, but it may also be worth it.

They tied Skylar's hands and legs together, respectively, and his thighs are bound securely to the bottom of the chair. Aside from that, there's nothing. Clearly they weren't intending on these restraints actually holding him long, it was probably just for show. For their stupid video. He's actually able to undo the ones keeping him strapped to the chair after a few minutes.