The Fallout

DAMIAN

I stepped out of my front door, my eyes sweeping the street in both directions like a man expecting a sniper on every rooftop. Nothing moved except a neighbor's sprinkler three houses down, its rhythmic chk-chk-chk the only sound in the otherwise silent cul-de-sac.

No reporters. No cameras. No vans with tinted windows idling at the curb. I exhaled, a breath I hadn't realized I'd been