Samuel was having none of it. Having identified his dangerous rescuer, he now hurried after him. Without much thought of why he was following him or what he would do when he caught him, Samuel ducked through the narrow exterior door, barrelling his way into the utilitarian corridors of one of the more dull housing silos. Cheap plastic fittings, and flimsy aluminium walls closed in on him. While it wasn’t the rot, rust, and reek of the city slums that made up the very lowest levels of the metropolitan buildings, it was still miles away from the spacious interiors and careful detailing Samuel had spent his entire life surrounded by. Here was instead a simple prefabricated highrise, a sardine can into which family upon family, person upon person, were jammed and stacked on top of each other. Thousands of lives lived out behind rows of identical apartment doors that dotted the maze of hallways that made up each of the floors.

Being the middle of the day there was no one around. Samuel pulled himself up in a hallway devoid of people. The hum of overhead lighting, and a greasy soft drip from somewhere distant, was the only noise. Not entirely surprising, most people would be at work, or at school, or locked away; but it still felt strange to see absolutely no one. In a mega-city teeming with people, to be alone could prove either a luxury or a threat.

Samuel’s feet scuffed along the worn commercialised carpet that ran the length of the hallways before him. It might have been burgundy once, although you’d be hard-pressed to decide what colour it was now. The architects and builders had probably hoped the communal carpet would add a touch of glamour and plushness to the otherwise drab building. Maybe it had for its first year or so; but no longer.

Not knowing where his quarry was, and not wanting to give himself away either (at least not until he could make up his mind as to what he was going to do), Samuel walked purposefully, if a little uncertainly along the hallway; craning his head at every intersection, trying to keep his bearings, straining and hoping to catch sight of his prey.

Growing more frustrated by the second, Samuel was about to turn back when a sudden plinking sound up ahead caught his ear and gave him a renewed sense of purpose. Rushing forward he went one, two, three short intersections further on, skating around the corner to the right. He was sure that sound just might, maybe be a footstep. Ahead of him was a spiralling staircase, metal and devoid of carpet. A footstep would ring on those metal steps, he was sure of it.

Adopting the air of jungle-cat Samuel crept forward and slinked his way down the staircase. Smirking at having surely found the black-clad man. He was determined to catch up with him and discover just what this dragon, this edge-lander might be up to. Subterfuge, sabotage, terrorism? 

Steeling himself for pursuit, Samuel’s mind was caught up in a whirl of nefarious possibilities, and crowed at the thought of bringing this imposter to justice. He fairly swung himself around the last turn of the stairs, only to be pulled up short as he came face to face and eye-to eye with the now decidedly-pissed-off dragon. 

Samuel reared back, his ankle catching on the stair behind, he flailed his arm out as he feared toppling backwards and doing yet more damage to his tailbone (and his pride). He grabbed on to the arm that reached out to him at that same moment. Steadying himself on the muscled bicep of the stranger. A surprisingly solid and well-defined arm was hidden beneath the folds of black cloth.

Eventually, Samuel managed to right himself and get both feet firmly beneath himself again. Something that had probably taken less than a second, but felt like minutes. He was standing two or three steps up from the floor of the new hallway. The man he’d followed was firmly planted in the hallway itself . The man hadn’t flinched or moved, his arm remained stretched out, his hand wrapped around Samuel’s (somewhat smaller, but he liked to think defined) bicep. The difference in floor heights meant that they were on a level with each other, and Samuel gulped. He had not thought this through.