The air hung thick and heavy, a miasma of dust and decay clinging to the cracked asphalt like a second skin. Buildings, once symbols of prosperity, now stood as skeletal remains, their empty windows like vacant eyes staring out at a world that had long since abandoned them. This was what remained of the American dream - a shattered cityscape, a testament to the greed and corruption that had consumed it. Rusting skyscrapers clawed at a sky perpetually choked with grey, their once-gleaming surfaces now scarred with graffiti and the relentless gnawing of time. Below, the streets were a maze of rubble and debris, a chaotic tapestry woven from shattered concrete, twisted metal, and the remnants of a life that had been.