He stepped onto the platform and descended the stairs to street level. 
Although it was two in the morning and the street looked empty, he sensed the 
vitality of it, as if the dark, cool asphalt, the graffitied girders of the 
Metrorail tracks, the closed krill dog shops, the entire environment, had a life 
of its own. He felt as if he’d stepped into the belly of a creature—a
still, sleeping, monster that might wake up at any moment.