I lurched to my feet, expecting an attack, but my brain finally kicked in and saw that the figure lying on the pavement in front of me was not made of trash. He looked to be around my age, maybe a little older. He propped himself up on his elbows on the pavement, blinking startlingly green eyes and shaking his head as if groggy. I’d crashed into him really hard. I was going to have bruises from the impact tomorrow, but he’d probably gotten the worst of it, since I’d ended up on top. He put his hand to the back of his head, running his fingers over his short black hair, most likely searching for blood. I was now rational enough to recognize that I’d crashed into a normal human being, not a monster made of trash, but I still had plenty of adrenaline coursing through my veins. Under my coat I was drenched in fear sweat, and my heart was hammering. I looked behind me, straining my ears for the distinctive rustling sound the trash man had made as it chased me, but there was no sign of movement in the fog.
