ONE seedy apartment complex after another. This side of town is dark and dreary, even on the most luminous of days. Randall Barnes wears a hooded, bulky winter coat, his hands tucked deeply in the pockets of his ill-fitting jeans. He carries himself cautiously, his posture stooped, eyeing every corner and alleyway for what may be lurking there. He enters his apartment building, taking an old-school freight elevator to his unit. He holds his finger over the UP button. The elevator takes off, making it to the tenth floor before coming to a screeching halt.“Goddammit,” he mutters, jamming the palm of his hand against the UP button.“I see you, Randall.”His head cranks upward in the direction of a muffled, distorted voice. Glaring fluorescent lights cloud his vision. He shades his frantic face, holding his arm above his forehead, searching for someone, anyone. “Who’s there?” He turns circles.“How does it feel?” the voice echoes out of the speaker box in the elevator ceiling.“What...what are you talking about?
