"I'm different," she says, quiet and matter-of-fact. And that, she thinks, is all he needs to know. He still has a weapon, and he's upset and impatient, and she doesn't want to know what he'd do if he knew the full truth about her.

But she can't just leave him here, either. He doesn't know what he's doing.

Melanie twists her mouth sideways into a brief, considering pout. Then she pads over to the rusted ladder hanging off the edge of the fire escape. It's stuck, and her weight isn't enough to jar it loose. But she's able to hang off the bottom rung, and that only leaves a short drop to the ground. Approaching the man directly is too risky for both of them, so she sidles out from beneath the fire escape, keeping a good ten yards between them and trying to stay upwind.

"I was heading for the Park," she says. It's not exactly an invitation, but it's not a dismissal, either.