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like velvet. “You appear to like spying, though. Who are you? What do you want?”
    “Just passing through,” Gabe said. ”We just wanna go about our business. Don’t wanna cause any trouble.”
    “Considering someone was shooting at you, I’d say you’ve brought trouble on yourself. And standing here, spying on a meeting is not exactly just passing through now, is it? I’ll give you one more chance. What do you want here?”
    “Food,” Gabe said. “That’s all. We’re travellers, and have run out of supplies.”
    “Hand over your bag and empty your pockets,” the eldest woman said.
    Petal clenched her teeth and raised her arms slightly.
    Gabe reached out a hand to her. “Do as they say.”
    There wasn’t much in their pockets or their bag anyway: only a few small canteens of water and scraps of protein bars long out of their use-by date. Petal emptied the stolen soy plants from her jacket pockets.
    “Fucking thieves!” the young girl in front of Petal said. The other one, who could have almost been the twin, had barely said anything, having not taken her eye off Gabe for one second. Her stare was unnerving, as if she knew something but wasn’t saying. Gabe wondered if their reputation had preceded them. Chances were the girl was just a psycho.
    “Come on, you’re going to explain your crimes to the Mayors,” the elder said. “Lead the way,”
    The two younger ones pushed Petal and Gabe away from the building, and with their guns inches from the back of their heads, made them walk round the building and in through the entrance where the circle of men, women and children awaited. The group watched them as if they were some kind of celebrity couple.
    Even the young girl in the middle with the bag at her feet stared up at them. Gabe noticed now that the bag seemed to contain hardware of some sort. He could make circuit boards and wires and what looked like replacement quantum drives.
    The girls forced Gabe and Petal into the middle so they were stood behind the young girl. She looked up at them, curious. Her face was covered in mud and her dirty blonde hair was matted into a short crop. She looked like a feral cat.
    The man in the suit looked up and past Gabe and Petal to address the elder woman. “What have you brought us, Keiko? Immigrants?”
    “Something like that, Tatsu. Thieves actually. Yoki and Yuri here found them stealing soy crops.”
    “Really now?” Tatsu said, raising an eyebrow and looking at Gabe. “Do you know, foreigner, what we do with thieves in this city?” With that, he also cast a look down at the young girl.
    “No. Why don’t ya tell me?”
    “We feed them to the dogs.”
    As if in response, a great howling echoed around the station as the group of people surrounding them dropped their heads back and howled together like a pack of wolves.
    Now he knew what the smell of roasted meat was.
    “And you would cook the girl, too?” Petal said. “Poor thing ain’t got an ounce of fat on her.”
    The lady Mayor smiled at this and leaned forward to regard Petal. “For girls, we have something else in store. Not enough meat on your little bodies to satisfy the wolves. No, you’ll satisfy other needs.”
    “Miyoko’s right,” Tatsu said. His sneered at Petal, looked her up and down. “I think you’ll do, for a few rounds at least. You look like you’ve got a bit of spirit about you. Like to put up a fight, eh? A little rough and tumble? Yeah, the wolves will enjoy you.” The Mayor leaned in close, ran his tongue up her neck.
    That was his first mistake.

Part 5 - The Wolves
    At first there was no change. Tatsu, the Mayor, stood close to Petal as if in a lover’s embrace. Only the wicked grin on Petal’s face indicated to Gabe that something else had happened. When Gabe and the others looked closer, a chromed spike poked out of the Mayor’s back, tenting his shirt, while a dark red stain expanded around the point.
    He choked, coughed up blood. It hit the floor with a