Alex clutched Angie's body to him as if his bodyheat would somehow spur her heart into beating again. Warm blood trickled down his temple and mingled with his tears.

Run! The voice inside him yelled relentlessly. They're coming. As if in agreement, his daughter started crying where he'd lain her on the roadside. He'd only seen the first three months of her life.

He settled Angie down, kissed her one final time, and took the baby. At least the goon that had driven them off the road didn't survive either, Alex thought, glancing at the twin wreckages of their cars.

His daughter was miraculously unharmed, save for the cut across her eyebrow. Alex fled, clutching the fussy infant to his chest while trying to calm the extraterrestrial presence racing in his mind. Even as it weakened, it thrived on adrenaline.

The alley at 7th Main was one of the few avoided by street riff-raff, likely because of its proximity to the police station.
He gently laid her down on the dumpster, wishing desperately that he could've done better.

Alex paged Hank. She's at the agreed location. Remember your promise, old friend.

He took out a transfuser filled with a clear blue fluid. Drew up his cuff.

"You want to escape," he told the ET presence, "now's your chance. Save what's left of yourself." The quintet of needles pierced his flesh. His blood turned the fluid a deep red.

The presence hesitated. "Come on now," Alex encouraged. "You know her. You created her."

After one tense minute, the blood...