11
REED
After tossing the cell onto the passenger seat, I closed my eyes, wrapped my fingers around the steering wheel. I was parked across the street from where I grew up in the shitty part of town. The house was gutted. The windows had been shattered on the second floor, the lower ones covered in warped wood with graffiti sprayed on it. The brick facade was chipped and starting to collapse. It was too dark to see the smoke damage, but I knew it was there. The houses on either side were vacant and abandoned, too. Hell, almost every one on the street gutted.
All was quiet, but that was deceiving. Steam rose from the manhole covers, proving it was too cold to be outside, even for the rats that usually darted out to find food. Not that anyone smart would be walking the streets in this par
