The Hero as Werwolf

Paul conceals himself among a crowd of masters gathered in a park to hear an orator.  He watches the speaker but, lost in his thoughts and unfamiliar with many of the words, understands little.  Paul spots a hairy, subhuman policeman on patrol and thinks of his long-dead mother’s lessons about the lost ways of mankind.

The lecture ends, and the crowd disperses. Paul shadows a well-dressed couple before luring them down a dark alley.  Before Paul can spring on his quarry, an old man and a young girl descend on the masters.  The interlopers slay the male master, and Paul breaks the female’s neck.  The old man insists that both bodies belong to him and his daughter, Janie.  Agreeing to split the spoils, Paul returns home with the female master slung over his shoulder.

Paul props the master’s corpse against a wall and washes his cloak.  The dead woman asks Paul what will become of her and learns that she is to be eaten.  The master expresses incredulity at encountering a human being, and her captor recalls that his kind were once the dominant species.  Paul fantasizes about making Janie his own.  The cadaver wonders aloud why Paul and the remaining people refused evolution by genetic alteration.

Offering the dead master a chance to escape, Paul waits outside his apartment. He reenters after several minutes to find the woman attempting to pull herself across the room.  Taunting his captive, Paul notes that most masters try to flee before their bodies fail them.  

Paul tracks Janie and her father to their hideaway, impressing the old man, who describes a host of less capable suitors.  Janie’s father and Paul discuss the myriad dangers posed by the masters. Paul recalls escaping from an automated house that identified him as a human being in the guise of a master.