Chapter 44
A BROKEN brick propped the stairwell door open. An emergency light glowed above the stairs, but the battery had run down enough that the light barely illuminated the yellow reflective tape at the edge of each step. I followed Jesse, both annoyed by her presence and relieved I wouldn’t have to check every apartment.
“Up,” Jesse said. She muttered “creepy b***h” under her breath as we climbed away from Acceptance.
Three steps into the climb and sweat trickled down the small of my back, in the clammy, closed-in air of the stairwell. My eyes strained in the darkness, but the standpipes, handrails and landings stayed invisible until they loomed out of shadow. I wished I’d brought the shotgun, just in case. Or even the flamethrower. A small trickle of flame would light the stairs f
