“Ya ever seen a junkie strung out on the corner? Needle in his arm, eyes rolled back, foamin’ at the mouth?”

“It don’t look it, but in that drug addled mind he ain’t rottin’ away on that corner.”

“Nah.”

“He’s in heaven.”

“Veins runnin’ thick with the one thing in this world that makes them feel even close to normal.”

“No matter how badly it destroys their body they just can’t seem to pry their fingers off the plunger. Do you wanna know why?”

“When their bodies are clean, when their brain is at peace… It feels like fuckin’ poison in their blood.”

“Addiction can make the biggest man look small, a reliance in their drug is the only thing that keeps ’em goin’.”

“So how do they cure that silence in their head? What makes that itch in their skin finally go away?”

“Another hit.”

“Smoke in the lungs.”

“Slag in the veins.”

“Every junkie has their substance of choice. Meth, crack, pills.”

“But I know you ain’t on that shit, Slade. Shit, I don’t think you smoke anythin’ harder than cigars.”

“So what puts your mind at ease and puts you at the gates of heaven?”

“War.”

“Week in, week out, all I hear comin’ out of those lips of yours is just how fuckin’ tragic it is that there ain’t a war to fight. Blood to spill, battles to win, lives to ruin.”

“Most people might see ya as a soldier just tryin’ to get  back to the frontlines. But I fuckin’ don’t.”

“All I see when you walk to the ring is a cracked out junkie beggin’ for another hit of the good shit right to his veins.”

“Ya just don’t know what to do with yourself without a breath full of war, do ya? Roamin’ the streets beggin’ anyone to finally cure the emptiness in your soul. A lil war, a crumb of battle to greedily snort up that big fuckin’ nose of yours.”

“Hopin’ that once you get back to your addiction that you’re finally ganna feel normal.”

“But I know better, Cunt-caid. See, do you wanna know why I know those junkies so well?”

“It’s because I’m the God Damned dealer.”

“I sling everything under the level lights and I got war in abundance.”

“And at Ascension I’m ganna give you the biggest dose you ever fuckin’ seen.”

“You’ll take it too, won’t you?”

“Drinking in every last fist to the skull like a man dyin’ of thirst.”

“But every addict has their limits, Slade.”

“When that cage door closes and the lock slams shut, I’m gonna push down that plunger.”

“Violence on violence, dose after dose until you’re left convulsin’ on the mat.”

“Overdosed on Hatchet’s stash just like every other pathetic druggie who comes to my tent for their fix.”

“So breathe it in, Slade. Let me cure your poison.”

“Permanently.”

“As you drift away, eyes rolled back, foam on your lips, you’re ganna know.”

“Eventually?”

“Everyone gets downed by the clown.”