The view overwhelmed him. There were piles of garbage and throngs of prostitutes in one neighborhood followed by mansions hidden behind high walls and security cameras in another. Restaurants, their names written out in Chinese characters, cluttered entire neighborhoods. ‘So many people,’ he thought. ‘It’s like a zombie invasion. It was never like this back in Dartmouth.’ It was also much hotter than anything he had experienced before. He overheard other people on the bus saying it was the hottest summer on record in Ontario. The windows kept fogging over because the bus’ air conditioning was on high. David cleared the window with the palm of his hand so he could watch the city slide by him. He tried to do the tourist thing, to keep his eyes on the busy and well-lit areas, but that was not who he was. At his core was something else. Again and again, he was drawn to the dark alleys, the vague hostility in the eyes of the homeless. In a city like this, it was easy for him to believe the world was filled with evil.
