The City The Broken Web, Part 5 Her back crawled, her muscles twitched involuntarily; he was behind her. The Dark man. He was going to destroy her at any moment. Spider awoke to the steady rhythm of windscreen wipers. She had been sleeping with her head plastered against the window, somehow her hair had found its way into her nose and mouth, mixing with her sticky drool. With a panic she realised it was raining, the big fat drops pounding on the roof and running down the dirty windows. Through it all Spider could just see a haze of lights speeding by, the city. The bus was empty except for the old bus driver who sat leaning against his window, reading a newspaper. He saw her looking, grinned, and spat a mouthful of tobacco juice into a battered tin can by the door. "You been out a while." "Where am I?" asked Spider. "This is the city and that's where you are. I was just about to kick you out, you been snoring so loud." The old man grinned again, exposing a row of brown stained teeth. Spider levered herself out of the chair and rummaged through her belongings, everything was where it should be. "You oughtta be more careful with yourself, now you're here in the city, can't just sleep anywhere." said the driver. Spider stumbled up the aisle, her mouth suddenly dry. "There are bad people out there." "Yeah," she said, "can I wait here till the rain stops?" "Depends, depends on how long that takes." Granny had spoken to Spider about the city, how it was a strange place where people were different and the sky was smaller, how it stank of sweat and rubbish and there was no stillness, no quiet. It hadn't prepared her however, not at all. "Good luck." wheezed the driver as Spider stepped out of the bus and on to the sidewalk. She was going to need it.