Blake had been hated by some real pros in his time. Guys who tried to shoot him, stab him, or just plain beat him. Guys who actually said things with flecks of spittle. There was one guy who went on so long about what he'd do to Blake with a piece of broken glass that after a while it was just impressive he wasn't repeating himself.

None of them had anything on this kid.

Blake let his breath out slowly.

"It doesn't matter now. The real world's a long ways away."