Chapter 20: OutsideFor someone who has lived in a box with no windows, even the grey sky and air, thick with pollution, smells sweeter than the mind can imagine.
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She saw the young man's face over and over in her mind. The sores on his arms and face only reinforced his tired eyes and sickly pallor. He wavered back and forth, wasted on some chemical. Probably flash. That would explain it.
Scarlett had never actually known anyone who'd done the mind-bending stimulant. Everything she knew about it she'd learned from either news reports or rumor. She knew it was the trendy d**g of choice in the supercities like LA and New York. She also knew that it had extended its tendrils of addiction even into the remote backwaters of places like Freedom, Oklahoma and Burhamton, Iowa.
The news rep
