She prepared to cross back to the familiar towers of 'her' station but froze where she stood. Hyena-man was standing by the taxi rank and lighting up a cigarette. There were two other guys with him. Where she had lived she had been used to seeing 'gangs', groups of young men, boys really, hanging around together on the pavements with nowhere to go but full of noisy, swaggering bravado. They could be a little menacing in their search for amusement, but this group was different. They were older and there was something close and threatening in their manner. They didn't swagger or talk noisily, they seemed to be talking quietly but intensely. Unconsciously the people passing them gave them some margin as though the menace they radiated was a tangible barrier, even in the shine of the morning. They weren't a gang, observed Katerina, they were a pack. She span on her heel and walked quickly away, taking a first left into a side street although it was narrow and empty and she preferred space and people. Her heart was beating fast, in time to her steps, but she could no longer believe the voice that told her she was 'over-reacting'.
     Another turn. It was as though she had left her world entirely. The streets were so different. She hurried through a small, elegant square with a single tree within a fence and apricot tinted paving. A bench surrounded the tree but she didn't stop. The sense of being followed was too strong and the square was empty. She hurried on into a grey, concrete wasteland of walls and low-rise 'matchboxes'. A starkly barren square featured a couple of small shops with wire netting on the windows and small graffiti tags and lewd words scrawled on the exposed sides of the indifferently, functional buildings. Litter scattered the space, unmoving in the stillness of the day as though to underscore the lifelessness of the place. The graffiti and the litter and the concrete frightened her more.
     It was as though she had stumbled upon a microcosm of futility and mindlessness in the middle of the magic city and she might, somehow, be dragged into it and not find her way out. She thought she saw someone move close to the wall on the farther side of the estate. The presence made her run, even while she was telling herself she was being irrational. A shout and running footsteps followed her. She didn't turn. She fled across the cold, grey paving and raced haphazardly into a narrow alleyway between the small convenience store and one of the blocks. The shadow of one wall fell blackly across the space making it dark although the sky remained bright overhead. Her heart was pounding audibly as she exited onto another street she didn't know. This street was broad and busy. Sandwich bars and cafés lined both sides and a fruit stall beckoned invitingly for customers. Katerina calmed a little. She felt really shaky and a bit sick. What was the matter with her? She was being completely paranoid. She glanced back up the alleyway and could see someone, a man, walking away across the grey square. He could be anybody, she said to herself but remained convinced that he was one of the pack.