"Yeah. Later, man."
The line clicked.
Stan lowered his phone, the screen casting a pale, fading glow across the empty hallway.
For a long moment, he simply stood there, listening to the muffled hum of the city through the plaster walls, wrestling with the heavy realization that he was rapidly outgrowing his own life.
Tonight, he easily could have driven to Zack and Zoey's apartment. He could have sat them down, ordered takeout, and systematically shattered their understanding of the universe. They were his oldest friends, the anchors who had kept him grounded when he had nothing else. Keeping them in the dark as the world quietly morphed into a battlefield was becoming not just impractical, but dangerous.
